| Author/Contributor(s): | Hon, Adrian |
| Publisher: | Astra House |
| Date: | 6/15/2027 |
| Binding: | Hardcover |
| Condition: | NEW |
WITH 20+ BLACK AND WHITE PHOTOS THROUGHOUT
"Immersive" is the defining quality of 21st century art, uniting everything from Van Gogh projection shows and immersive theatre to video games, virtual reality, and installation art. But while cutting-edge technology may seem key to these immersive experiences, the quest for immersion is as old as humanity itself. From ancient Roman frescos to theme parks, from 19th century Parisian waxworks to the $2 billion Sphere in Las Vegas, and from extravagant medieval pageants reserved for nobility to high-tech live action role playing games played by masses, The Age of Immersion shows how we’ve always harnessed imagination, craft, and technology to transport ourselves to other worlds – for enlightenment, for an encounter with the divine, and often, just for fun. Today’s immersive experiences, grander and more powerful than ever, offer us a more intense version of real life and demand more from us in turn. Understanding the history of this art form is crucial to navigating the exciting, and sometimes unsettling, possibilities of our immersive future.
Adrian Hon seeks to understand the explosion in "immersive" experiences in the past thirty years, and more broadly, figure out why "immersion" has become the primary quality desired in everything from entertainment and education to art and technology. Many people say immersive experiences are popular because we lack agency and intimacy in our everyday lives – but the real story is more interesting than that. Going all the way back to Ancient Egypt, and passing through gothic cathedrals, medieval pilgrimages, pageants and tournaments, renaissance trompe l'oeil, 18th century "panoramania", and the birth of cinema, readers discover that many of the things we think are new, like immersive theatre, have startlingly similar precedents from centuries past. Forging into the 20th century, The Age of Immersion explores how the growth of neoliberalism shaped the new forms of immersive art we know today, like the Happenings, installation art, immersive theatre, video games, and virtual reality. Finally, Adrian details the most popular immersive technologies of the 21st century, which sow the seeds for the future: Dungeons & Dragons, live action role playing, and digital automation.