Concrete, Space and Time: Mixed Reality and Nonlinear Narratives

In an age where spatial computing and immersive technology are rapidly developing and increasingly impacting on our everyday activities, there is an urgent need to examine how such technology presents opportunities for creativity within the arts and humanities. This thesis explores the topic of virtual reality storytelling, with particular regard to mixed reality experiences and the recreation of places, people and memory. After outlining the history and potential of Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR), collectively known as Extended Reality (XR), I argue that XR displays unique attributes that do not collectively appear in existing mediums—such as cinema, literature or photography—and has the capacity to alter our perception of space and time via immersive experiences. Although the experiences of VR and AR may be relatively new, some of the possibilities which are now available—or within close reach—have been the subject of science fiction for decades. I argue that the ideas and concepts within visionary art, literature and film are a guide for future storytelling within XR environments and that multi-sensory XR technology, combined with the memories and imagination of the users, could facilitate a sensation of nonlinear time consciousness or ‘time travel’. I also highlight several ‘non-VR’ artists who provide a footprint for the use of XR within the arts and humanities, demonstrating possible techniques for the display of audio and visual material in mixed reality environments and the management of the sensorial tableaux within such experiences. My research also includes the creative practice piece Schema, a VR artwork produced in parallel to the writing of this thesis. Inspired and informed by my research, Schema seeks to demonstrate that VR can be utilised as a genuine, unique, platform for art within its own right and not solely as an extension of television, cinema, videogames or a form of ‘immersive documentary.’