Immerse!

Every day, billions of people alternate between being absorbed into and expelled from a digitally constructed virtual environment. Artificial environments have an enormous immersive power; people seem to live several lives at once. The artists in Immerse! untangle the various facets of this conundrum, highlighting the epistemological, cognitive and political implications of immersion that is made possible through computation today. With the recent worldwide accelerated digitisation of the arts during the pandemic and the ensuing crisis, the exhibition and its catalogue serve as a timely resource to reflect on and analyse some of the latest artistic solutions and platforms that enable remote access to knowledge and culture in unique and effective ways. The exhibition is realised within the framework of Beyond Matter, an international collaborative practice-based research project that brings cultural heritage and culture in development to the verge of virtual reality.