Public Lecture Series

The Immersive Arts Space hosts every semester a public lecture series with national and international guest lecturers. The lecture series aims to address artistic as well as theoretical aspects of immersion.

The current lectures are available via live stream.


Spring Semester 2024

Immersive Arts: Performative Perspectives on Immersion

This lecture series investigates questions of immersion from the perspectives of the performing arts including dance, theater and even real time animation. Our exciting list of five guest lecturers includes a world renowned choreographer and collaborating dance artist working with real time motion capture, the head of the theater program at the ZHdK and an expert in contemporary performance and digitality, a journalist and long-time editor of tanz, the most important dance magazine in the German speaking world, the head of the Ars Electronica animation jury and an Egyptian born, Greek computer scientist and dancer working on digital performance in Virtual Reality.

Prof. Juergen Hagler | March 5th, 2024 | 17:15-18:30
THE ART OF PERFORMANCE AND EXTENDED ANIMATION

Arnd Wesemann | March 19th, 2024 | 17:15-18.15
PLAYFUL SIMULATIONS

Corinne Soland | April 2nd, 2024 | 17:15-18:30
PERFORMING 3D CHARACTERS FOR DIFFERENT MEDIA FORMATS 

Prof. Dr. Chris Salter | April 16th, 2024 | 17:15-18:30
IMMERSION: FOUR MODELS FROM ART HISTORY, INDUSTRY, MEDIA ARTS AND COMPUTING

Gilles Jobin and Susana Panadés Diaz | April 30th, 2024 | 17:15-18:30
COSMOGONY: NEW AVENUES BETWEEN XR AND DANCE


Autumn Semester 2023

The Autumn Semester 2023 lecture series investigates questions of immersion from perspectives outside of the immersive arts. Guest lecturers come from curating, computer music and DIYelectronics, embodied human-computer interaction, animation and theater and scenography. Topics will include composing interactive systems, new concepts of extended animation, curating immersive experiences, disability and human computer interaction and new concepts of XR-based performative scenography in urban contexts. 

Dr. Marije Baalman | September 26th, 2023 | 17:15-18:30
COMPOSING AN INTERACTION: A PRIMER ON BUILDING EXPRESSIVE INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS

José Luis de Vicente | October 10th, 2023 | 17:15-18:30
DRAMATURGIES OF THE ANTHROPOCENE: RHETORICS OF IMMERSION, PARTICIPATION AND AGENCY IN CONTEMPORARY ARTS

Livia Nolasco-Rózsás | October 24th, 2023 | 17:15-18:30
BRAINS IMMERSED IN A VAT. UNMASKING THE POLITICS OF IMMERSION

Dr. Katta Spiel | November 21st, 2023 | 17:15-18:30
LEISURE IMPOSSIBLE – PLAYING WHILE DISABLED

Dr. Shauna Janssen | December 5th 2023 | 17:15-18:30
AUGMENTED SCENOGRAPHIES AND PERFORMATIVE URBANISM: LESSONS FROM THE FIELD


Spring Semester 2023

The Immersive Arts Lecture Series for spring semester 2023 investigates artistic and design experiences in which humans, media and architectural spaces shape one another within the context of the built environment. Guest lecturers who come from the fields of digital arts, architecture, theater studies and the visual arts, will focus on specific artistic works from their practice, as way to open up critical discussion around emerging paradigms of bodily experience in spatial computing environments, human-machine interactions in architectural spaces, and immersive experiences between human, technical and natural systems.

Rasa Smite | March 7th, 2023 | 17:15-18:30
ON ATMOSPHERIC FOREST  

Christopher Salter | March 21st, 2023 | 17:15-18:30
ON ANIMATE

Daniela Mitterberger | April 4th, 2023 | 17:15-18:30
ON DEGREES OF LIFE

Selena Savic | April 18th, 2023 | 17:15-18:30
A DATA-DRIVEN DRAMA

Kurt Hentschläger | May, 2nd, 2023 | 17:15-18:30
THE AMBIVALENT PRACTICE OF IMMERSIVE INSTALLATIONS AND PERFORMANCES


Autumn Semester 2022

This lecture series investigates the concept of immersion in art and design from aesthetic, historical and political perspectives. Guest lecturers come from digital arts, curating, media studies, and the histories of science and technology from the ZHdK, Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (New York), Haus der Elektronischen Künste (HEK, Basel) and the Technical University in Dresden. Topics will include contemporary artistic practices in multi-sensory immersion, extended reality and history of VR and the arts, and art and artificial intelligence.

Christopher Salter | September 27th, 2022 | 17:15-18:30
THE ARTS OF IMMERSION: SENSING, BODIES AND RESPONSIVE ENVIRONMENTS 

Kristof Timmerman | October 11th, 2022 | 17:15-18:30 
BREAKING THE FIFTH WALL: IMMERSION BETWEEN LIVE PERFORMANCE AND VIRTUAL SPACES

Sabine Himmelsbach | October 25th, 2022 | 17:15-18:30 
VIRTUAL WORLDS-INTERACTIVE ENVIRONMENTS: ART AS AN IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE

Michael Century | November 8th, 2022 | 17:15-18:30 
CONTESTING A “NEW MEDIUM”: VIRTUAL REALITY AS CULTURAL PROBE

Orit Halpern | November 22nd, 2022 | 17:15-18:30 
THE SMARTNESS MANDATE: AI AND UBIQUITOUS COMPUTING`S IMPACT ON ART AND DESIGN


Spring Semester 2022

In this series, guest lecturers from the Swiss Institute of Technology ETHZ, the Lucerne University of Applied Sciences HSLU, the University of Zurich UZH shared their specific views along with lecturers from the ZHdK. The topics covered Architecture, Virtual Reality, Virtual Forensics, Game Aspects in Theatre and Extended Reality.

Matthias Vollmer | Recording from March 8th, 2022
IMMERSE IN THE CLOUD – VISUALIZING WITH POINT CLOUDS

Christina Zimmermann | Recording from March 22nd, 2022 
CHALLENGING THE INDIVIDUAL – PERCEPTUAL CON/FUSIONS IN VIRTUAL REALITY

Lars Ebert | Recording from April 5th, 2022 
FORENSICS ON THE HOLODECK

Réjane Dreifuss | Recording from April 19th, 2022 
LUDIFICATION IN THEATRE: THE EXAMPLE OF “GAME-THEATRES”

Christian Iseli | Recording from May 3rd, 2022 
SHIFTING REALITIES, OR: WHAT ARE IMMERSIVE ARTS ANYWAY?


Autumn Semester 2021

In this series, concepts of immersion as well as embodiment were explored from the different perspectives of fine arts, design, film, performing arts and music, with concrete examples of artistic practices and research projects. 

Christian Iseli | Recording from October 12th, 2021
DOUBLE TROUBLE: DIGITAL AVATARS ON STAGE 

Anna Lisa Martin-Niedecken | Recording from October 19th, 2021
EXPLORING BODY-CENTERED DESIGN APPROACHES IN MIXED REALITY SPORTS

Olav Lervik | Recording from October 26th, 2021
GAMES IN CONCERT: LESSONS FROM MUSIC IN VIRTUAL REALITY 

Marie-France Rafael | Recording from November 23rd, 2021
POST-DIGITAL RELATIONALITY – EMBODIED EXPERIENCES

Melody Chua | Recording from December 7th, 2021 
BLACK BOX FADING: (DIS)EMBODIMENT WITH AN IMMERSIVE IMPROVISATION MACHINE


Spring Semester 2021

Marcus Maeder | March 16th, 2021 
AMBIENT: FROM IMMERSION TO IMMANENCE

Felix Stalder | April 13th, 2021
IMMERSION AS ESCAPISM, CONTROL, OR CO-EXISTENCE

Maike Thies | April 27th, 2021
ENTANGLED IN ARTIFICIAL WORLDS

Hannah Walter | May 4th, 2021
BECOMING WITH TECHNOLOGY. BECOMING CYBORG

Christian Iseli | May 11th, 2021
EXPANDED ILLUSIONS: CINEMATIC CONCEPTS OF IMMERSION