The Virtual Image Technology, Media, and Construction of the Visual Reality

Abstract

We are experiencing a passage from the mostly representational function of images (the traditional media of photography, cinematography, television) to constructed images made with new technologies, especially computer graphics and virtual reality. We are left with images as formal abstractions, that make us think of a mediation of cognitive/ experiential models of reality, rather than a simple representative reproduction. With virtual reality the image presents itself more and more as reality, stressing its constructional statute. The image is no longer a map that orients the mental ways, but a real territory to explore.