Seeing Alone Yet Together: Modern-day Tiresias in VR theatre

Abstract

This article examines the use of Virtual Reality (VR) technology in theatre and the new notions of performance, stage, theatrical apparatus and spectatorship that it entails. As witnessed over decades of multimedia theatre, today’s theatre no longer solely depends on the bodies of live performers, and it increasingly draws on technological devices and digitally mediated networks to hint at potential posthuman alternatives to our age-old theatrical institution of live performers and spectators. In VR theatre, the prospect of posthuman spectators looms as the human body is aided by goggles or head-mounted displays (HMD) that function as prosthetic eyes. Digitally mediated images in theatre were previously considered to act as a Derridean supplement to the weak presence or complete absence of human bodies on stage, thus highlighting the prerequisite essentiality of live bodies. However, new technologies and media introduced in theatre emphasize the perception and bodily senses of spectators and how they, and not necessarily the live actors on stage, constitute the essence of performance. By reading A Theater for an Individualist (2020) as metatheatre on VR theatre, this article argues that such a format - which is often employed in VR performances - addresses how the act of watching has evolved in theatre, from a singular and linear experience to an alinear and plural one. The article concludes that the application of VR in theatre actually could support and even extend the agency of spectators, drawing on Jacques Rancière’s discussion of oppositions - activity and passivity; individuality and community; ignorance and knowledge - in The Emancipated Spectator (2008).

FUNDING ACKNOWLEDGMENT

This work was supported by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Korea and the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2020S1A5B5A17090706).

Notes

1 I am grateful to the artists Seyoung Jeong, Jangwon Lee and ROOMTONE as well as MMCA curator Yonghee Sung for additional information on the mechanism of the work.

2 Oculus Rift S is a VR headset tethered to a PC, thus limiting movement but allowing high graphic

3 Oculus Quest is a wireless VR headset that allows the user to roam freely and explore the physical setting as well as the virtual.

4 I was not given access to the VR video shown to the three participants in group A who wore Oculus Quest and walked through the stage area. I could only confirm with one of the artists via email that they were not shown the same video as the one shared to all on the screen. It was the artists’ intention to offer three distinctly different experiences for the participants depending on whether they wore the HMD and which type of HMD they wore.