{"id":5552,"date":"2026-02-12T15:49:24","date_gmt":"2026-02-12T14:49:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hacnumedia.org\/?p=5552"},"modified":"2026-02-18T17:03:52","modified_gmt":"2026-02-18T16:03:52","slug":"eyes-wide-shut-senses-wide-open-immersion-beyond-screens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hacnumedia.org\/en\/eyes-wide-shut-senses-wide-open-immersion-beyond-screens\/","title":{"rendered":"Eyes Wide Shut, Senses Wide Open\u2026 Immersion Beyond Screens"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Beyond screens and showy or spectacular audiovisual staging, immersion can also be experienced in a more subtle and sensory way\u2014one in which sound, light, and tactile elements address the body and the psyche directly. This approach is guided less by technological escalation than by perceptual experience, leaving more room for emotion than for technical bravado. A closer look at these alternative artists. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n

As we know, immersion is having a major moment right now\u2014both among economic and political decision-makers, since it sits at the heart of the Cultural and Creative Industries (CCI) agenda (as highlighted by the recent \u201cImmersive Culture and Metaverse<\/a>\u201d call for projects launched under France 2030), and among large-scale cultural venues promoting ultra-visual, 360\u00b0 audiovisual experiences as \u201ca way to make art more appealing or to enhance the experience audiences have\u201d (L\u2019Atelier des Lumi\u00e8res<\/a>) One might reasonably wonder, however, whether such a proliferation of technological effects\u2014largely driven by the logic of screens and multi-screen environments\u2014doesn\u2019t ultimately become somewhat intrusive and overwhelming over time, offering little more than a purely spectacular take on the very idea of immersion. Might such an excess of images and information ultimately undermine what is most essential to an immersive experience\u2014namely, the subtlety of perception and the depth of an intimate emotional response? <\/p>\n\n

Immersion Through Sound, Light, and Architecture<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n

Originally, the principles of immersion were deeply intertwined with the interplay of sound, light, and architecture, as researcher \u00c9ric Monin<\/a>\u2014a specialist in lighting and the integration of sound and light within historic heritage sites\u2014explains when he refers to the concept of the \u201cspatial experience.\u201d Twentieth-century contemporary artists who explored the first immersive audiovisual technologies naturally worked with these very elements\u2014whether composers like La Monte Young<\/a> with Dream House<\/a>, conceived as a sound-and-light environment for the viewer, or Iannis Xenakis<\/a> with Polytope de Cluny<\/a>, an electroacoustic piece performed live with recorded sound and bursts of light. This approach\u2014marked by a blend of intensity and subtlety, but above all by a sense of timelessness and the viewer\u2019s physical disorientation\u2014has continued through the chromatic environments developed by American artist James Turrell, whose recent exhibition at Gagosian\u2019s At One space in Le Bourget<\/a> offered a striking glimpse of the immersive power of his work.<\/p>\n\n

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