Virtual Realities: Art, Technology, Performance

Contemporary virtual reality extends a long-standing quest to create a fully immersive, multisensory environment, a quest that may go back to the earliest cave paintings and includes such projects as cathedrals, operas, panoramas, theme parks, video games, and multimedia "happenings." What is VR's relation to this long and varied history? What are the ethics, aesthetics, promises, and perils of this new medium? What is meant by "immersion," "interactivity," and "presence," and how is VR changing those terms? How might VR relate to contemporary immersive theater and installation art - as well as to the mediatization of society more generally?