Virtuelle Lebenswelten – serie

Virtual reality is a technique of interfacing which connects diverse bodies, objects and spaces, thereby mediating between different art forms and modes of experience. This feature also calls for a methodological interfacing of different disciplinary perspectives. The contributors to this volume examine how VR is employed in contemporary art with regard to its technical potential, its aesthetic qualities, and the imaginations it evokes. They highlight the use of VR as a ›world within a world,‹ ranging from encapsulated artificial environments to transitions into familiar lifeworlds. By bringing together theoretical perspectives from art history, media and game studies, this volume provides crucial analysis of selected artworks and expands the critical engagement with a contemporary art form and media practice.

Hidden from view, data centres process and store scientific data while requiring extensive energy and metal extraction. How can science become sustainable, as it depends heavily on these data infrastructures? The authors of this volume trouble cultures of scientific competition, challenge institutional habits, irritate server procurement and regulations, question funding procedures, and confront global supply chains. It is a witty and thought-provoking engagement with practical everyday challenges of enabling a university to respond to the planetary. With original line art and ethnographic texts, they offer a refreshing take on the challenges data-driven science faces in times of climate change.