To what extent does your background and your own physical consciousness influence your experience in VR?
Neuroscientists Ineke van der Ham (Leiden University) and Anouk Keizer (Utrecht University) regularly use VR in their research. Their experiences with the medium raise many questions about the ways VR is experienced by different people. Therefore they conducted an VR experiment at the cinedans festival at the Eye filmmuseum to investigate to what extent your background and your own physical consciousness influence your experience in VR.
During the festival Ineke van der Ham and Anouk Keizer investigated how dancers and non-dancers experience 'emodiment' and 'sense of presence' in virtual space. They were asked to participate in a 20 minute pratice session in which the participants were asked to explore a virtual environment. Van der ham and Keizer observed how the dancers and non-dancers moved through the virtual environment and what they were looking at.
They also asked the participants to what extent they felt present in the VR environment and investigated their spatial skills. With this data Van der Ham and Keizer hope to gain insight in the way VR is experienced by dancers and non-dancers and to discover if there are any differences. Their research findings contribute to optimization of VR performances and theorizing about perception of virtual space.
Cinedans is an international dance, film and media festival held annually in Amsterdam since 2003. The 19th edition of the festival (2023) took place at the EYE Film Museum. During the festival, the most diverse forms of dance are shown in 40 to 50 different films from the Netherlands and abroad. In addition, documentaries and installations can be viewed.
Cinedans festival