Rethinking Catharsis: Virtual Narratives and the “Empathy Machine.” Day One

Time:

 3:00pm - 5:30pm EDT

Sponsor:

 Department of Italian Studies, John Nicholas Brown Public Humanities Center

Location:

 Rockefeller Library

Room:

 Digital Scholarship Lab, room 137

Rethinking Catharsis: Virtual Narratives and the “Empathy Machine.” Day One.  By redefining the possibilities of mimetic identification, the development of Virtual, Augmented, and Extended Reality (AR/XR) applications, ranging from the performative to the therapeutic and socio-political realms, urge us to investigate whether “catharsis” is still conceivable, and what forms can it take in hybrid or entirely immersive environments.

Speakers: Roderick Coover, “Catharsis Or Terror, Empathy Or Annihilation? Innervation at the Portals of the Anthropocene.” Can emerging media arts enable comprehension of the rapidly accelerating drive toward climate catastrophe before collapse, put words to the unspeakable and contribute to acts of transformation?

Samantha Gorman, “Liveness in Virtual Worlds: Case Study: ‘The Under Presents’ an Immersive Theater VR Experience.” This talk provides a behind the scenes perspective in the design methodology of The Under Presents, a virtual reality immersive theater experience that combined multiplayer gameplay with live actor performances.