Caring for Techno-Ecological Entanglements in VR Projects

The lecture explores the potential of Virtual Reality technology-based artistic practices in the context of the global climate crisis in the Anthropocene era. In the first part of my intervention, I intend to examine Le Corps-glitch (multitudes), a project by Marie-Eve Levasseur. The work symbiotically combines the human body with floral, animalistic and technological components through Virtual Reality immersion. The result is a techno-environment wherein more-than-human relationships are shown in ways that are dynamic and animated in equal measure. In the second part, I will consider Air Morphologies by Matterlurgy duo, an interactive research project based on Virtual Reality technologies, which investigates the materiality and composition of air pollution particles, their causes, effects and morphological agency.

Offering new multisensory experiences, the projects above transform the functionalities of contemporary technology, purposely abandoning the anthropocentric perception of nature as a consumerist performance. Consequently, the immersive and interactive practices generate new operational methods that reject homogenous and consumption-targeting schemas, stimulating a new sensitivity to techno-ecological entanglements. The immersivity of artworks allows participants to overcome indifference to ecology and thus develop a relationship with the environment based on care for the more-than-human world.