How can virtual models and environments be used in contemporary theatre, art and architecture?

This volume examines this question by taking a scenographic and design-led perspective. Using a range of interdisciplinary case studies drawn from global contemporary theatre, art and architecture practice, it explores the development of virtual models, their potential as a transformative space and their capacity for world-making. The rich array of contemporary examples includes the Japanese artist collective Dumb Type, Chinese artist Lu Yang, US-Iranian artist Morehshin Allahyari, Kate Moss' appearance as a hologram in Alexander McQueen's runway show, Bjork's symbiotic relationship with Chinese-American visual artist and film director Andrew Thomas Huang, and the work of a variety of VR and XR labs, among many others.

It focuses on the artists' scenographic, spatial, aesthetic, dramaturgical and narrative production strategies through 3 interrelated theoretical strands of inquiry. The first ascertains the virtual model's unique capacity for world-making, the second isolates its performative and epistemic qualities, and the third looks at the spatial inference of the material in the interface between the virtual and the 'real'.

Behind this inquiry is a historical and theoretical positioning of the virtual and its relationship to the 'real'. This study's examination of the virtual also covers known and emerging forms of expanded reality (XR) as devices in this interaction. It reveals the processes made visible in exhibitions, installations and performances, while focusing on the overlapping of spaces, narratives and actors as they contribute to the construction of virtual worlds. This book pushes the reader to consider how new tools and technologies open new spaces for knowledge creation and creative expression.

Thea Brejzek is Professor of Spatial Theory at the School of Architecture, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.

Lawrence Wallen is Professor at the School of Architecture, University of Technology Sydney, Australia.