Presence in Modern Media: Sleep No More and Virtual Reality
Sleep No More is a visceral experience because it surrounds you. It is not just watching pictures on a screen move or listening to your favorite song; it generates such emotional responses because for the time you are there, you are in that world. The sense of presence is achieved not only by being present in the space, but by being completely encompassed by the narrative. Every single person from the elevator to the exit was in character. The space that the performance takes place in is crafted with a careful eye. Each note on the ground and every set piece acts as glue that further holds the feeling of presence together. Each scene, from the rave-orgy in the bar to the slow motion dinner in the ballroom exudes an eerie sense of being unnatural. With the assistance of white masks, even the other audience members are made into silent assets of the production.
Presence is the feeling of actually being in the second world that is brought before you. It is the realization of Berger's Heterotopia, whether actually stepping into another world, or being made to think that you just have made that step. While I never thought I actually lived in the tale of MacBeth at any point, I truly felt like I was part of what was going on. These emotional connections are being made today with a new, emergent form of technology: Virtual Reality. VR is essentially strapping on a headset that occupies your entire field of view and sends the data corresponding to the movement of your head to the computer. What is actually experienced depends on the program you are playing. Attached is a GIF of a new VR game called Hover Junkers. This GIF shows someone using not only a VR headset, but hand controls as well, further covering your body's senses and movement.
VR is the next step in bringing second worlds closer than they ever have been before. Like Sleep No More, they fully immerse the user, rather than supplying single-sense experiences or incomplete viewing fields. VR headsets, however do this with only software, no performers to pay or sets to build. Everything is created digitally on a computer. The Oculus Rift, which is one of the few headsets on the market never ceases to astonish. VR headsets will become an increasingly prevalent item, like the television in the 20th century.
Presence is not easy to achieve. Before VR, exhibitions like Sleep No More were the only form of presence one could get. But as time passes, the entire world of narrative media will adopt presence as an integral piece of every work. The second worlds of tomorrow will feel realer and closer than they ever have before.
