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Abstract

This paper attempts to analyze how users explore and experience the fissures which accidently occur because of technological errors in Virtual Reality(VR). It begins with the question “Does the world exist if I am not watching it?” raised in Parallel Ⅱ, a video work by Harun Farocki. Since virtual reality is the simulation of our physical world, it seems like we have control over our actions in VR, but in fact, we need to move according to the constructed world, not ourselves. In other words, VR viewers are constantly forced to move and act according to what they are shown. This is how the virtual world resembles our physical world, i.e. reality. VR technology tends to embody a specific type of realism extending the order of the world. Although it corresponds to our spatial sense based on the physical experiences, there are also some moments that make users face up to the technological imperfections which I call “fissures.” In this regard, the virtual world as a simulation of reality could be revealed when users find the fissures which are not intended and see through them what led to the world without us. This is how this act of seeing entangles with recent post-Anthropocentrist theories. To elaborate on the idea, the notion of ancestralité suggested by Quentin Meillassoux and “black” as emptiness by Eugene Thacker are brought into this discussion. Also, in addition to Farocki’s work, some contemporary artworks and cultural tendencies are analyzed as examples illustrating users’ actions exploring the fissures in virtual worlds.