A special quality about the medium of virtual reality is the immersive nature, allowing users to disengage from the physical world around them in order to fully interact with a digital environment. An Artistic Approach to Virtual Reality traces the lineage of artist/technologists who have worked with virtual reality in its infancy to the interactive virtual work of contemporary artists such as Laurie Anderson. Interlaced within a survey of artists whose works fit in the boundary of the interactive virtual medium, this book teases out what qualifies as interactive virtual artworks. The authors discuss the theories behind basic mechanics required to enter the virtual reality space and investigate theories around visual and embodied conceptual space. Key Features: · Explores theoretical and practical aspects of using virtual reality for artistic practice. · Includes examples and discussion of virtual reality artworks from award winning artists. · Discusses topics relevant to virtual reality that are pertinent and persist throughout hardware and software changes. · Provides historical and contemporary discussion of virtual reality artistic works.

A special quality about the medium of virtual reality is the immersive nature, allowing users to disengage from the physical world around them in order to fully interact with a digital environment. An Artistic Approach to Virtual Reality traces the lineage of artist/technologists who have worked with virtual reality in its infancy to the interactive virtual work of contemporary artists such as Laurie Anderson. Interlaced within a survey of artists whose works fit in the boundary of the interactive virtual medium, this book teases out what qualifies as interactive virtual artworks. The authors discuss the theories behind basic mechanics required to enter the virtual reality space and investigate theories around visual and embodied conceptual space. Key Features: · Explores theoretical and practical aspects of using virtual reality for artistic practice. · Includes examples and discussion of virtual reality artworks from award winning artists. · Discusses topics relevant to virtual reality that are pertinent and persist throughout hardware and software changes. · Provides historical and contemporary discussion of virtual reality artistic works.

This book proposes a new interdisciplinary understanding of urban design in China based on a study of the transformative effects of socio-spatial design and planning on communities and their governance. This is framed by an examination of the social projects, spaces, and realities that have shaped three contexts critical to the understanding of urban design problems in China: the histories of "collective forms" and "collective spaces", such as that of the urban danwei (work-unit), which inform current community building and planning; socio-spatial changes in urban and rural development; and disparate practices of "spatialised governmentality". These contexts and an attendant transformation from planning to design and from government to governance, define the current urban design challenges found in the dominant urban xiaoqu (small district) and shequ (community) development model. Examining the histories, transformations, and practices that have shaped socio-spatial epistemologies and experiences in China - including a specific sense of community and place that is rather based on a concrete "collective" than abstract "public" space and underpinned by socialised governance - this book brings together a diverse range of observations, thoughts, analyses, and projects by urban researchers and practitioners. Thereby discussing emerging interdisciplinary urban design practices in China, this book offers a valuable resource for all academics, practitioners, and stakeholders with an interest in socio-spatial design and development.