Against Realism: The badly rendered potential of VR

Background This issue of Artlink explores the theme of virtual reality. Currently there exists a dominant discourse around contemporary art practice and VR which often duplicates the mainstream commercial rhetoric of the wonderous possibilities of VR and less so its potential for artists to explore its shortcomings and its aesthetic failings. In addition much discussion around VR is centred on the notion of the simulation of the real world and life like behaviour. I discuss the VR work of a number of artists who extend on VR and its potential against realism and simulation while challenging our mental and physical boundaries. Including the work of Jessica Taylor, Cool 3D World, Paul McCarthy, Theo Triantafyllidis and Jess Johnson amongst others. I was invited by guest editor Julianne Pierce to contribute a piece to this issue. Contribution My contribution to this issue of Artlink: Virtual Reality Ways of seeing directly explores the potential of badly rendered VR, the aesthetics of the glitch, and the short circuiting of life like simulation as particular disruptive aesthetic strategies for artists to utilise. The article argues that a more disruptive aesthetic approach to VR can open up new possibilities for the technology, which is currently locked into a very rigid approach of 3D simulation and realism. The article too feeds into the development of an ARC project I am currently working on. Significance Artlink is a well established and highly respected quarterly themed contemporary art journal. Artlink has peer review status as an independent journal of critical writing on the contemporary visual arts in compliance with the Australian Higher Education Research Data Collection (HERDC) specifications and is listed on the Australian Research Council ERA 2012 journal list. The journal is distributed widely through book stores and galleries, institutions around Australia. Artlink is funded by Australia Council, and Arts South Australia.