IDG SEMINAR: Being in virtual worlds (March 21st)

In the wake of the recent publication of the three-book collection focused on fictional spaces and virtual worlds Virtual Interiorities (ETC Press, 2022), the Institute of Digital Games is organizing an afternoon seminar that promises to be a fascinating addition to our understanding of virtual worlds. Focusing on examples taken from modern videogames, the three speakers invited in this international seminar will propose reflections on how we experience gameworlds and how we playfully and imaginatively traverse and inhabit those spaces.

The event (March the 21st)

This seminar will take place at the IDG Lab (Triq L-Esperanto 20) in the afternoon of Thursday, March the 21st, and everyone is welcome to attend!

Taking inspiration from the Virtual Interiorities collection, three speakers will present recent work and fresh new insights on themes related to imaginary spaces and our sense of being present in (and belonging within) them.

The event will start at 16.00 (March the 21st, 2024), and here is the program:

1. 16.00 – 16.20: Dr. Nele Van de Mosselaer (Tilburg University, The Netherlands)
   “Imaginary, fictional, and virtual spaces”
2. 16.30 – 16.50: Daniele Monaco (Universita’ di Perugia, Italy)
   “Places in videogames: the genius loci in virtual worlds”
3. 17.00 – 17.20: Dr. Daniel Vella (Institute of Digital Games, University of Malta)
   “Dwelling and Being at Home in Digital Games”

The event will be hosted by Prof. Stefano Gualeni. See you there! :)

Virtual interiorities – book three: SENSES OF PLACE AND SPACE.

Contemporary virtual reality is often discussed in terms of popular consumer hardware. Yet the virtual we increasingly experience comes in many forms and is often more complex than wearable signifiers. This three-volume collection of essays examines the virtual beyond the headset. Virtual Interiorities (2022) offers multiple, sometimes unexpected entry points to virtuality—theme parks, video games, gyms, pilgrimage sites, theatre, art installations, screens, drones, film, and even national identity. What all these virtual interiorities share are compelling cultural perspectives on distinct moments of environmental collision and collusion, liminality, and shifting modes of inhabitation, which challenge more conventional architectural conceptions of space.

Senses of Place and Space steps beyond environments to look more closely at inhabitation, time, non-space, and placelessness. Each piece gathered in this final volume touches on how we exist—or might exist—in emerging virtual constructs, as well as how those constructs shift our perceptions through fluidity, pervasiveness, and altered vantages.

Download texts on virtual space in this third volume by Prof. Gualeni, Dr. Vella, and Dr. Van de Mosselaer for free here >> https://press.etc.cmu.edu/books/virtual-interiorities/3 <<