Terms such as virtual reality and art in virtual space have become common places lacking any precise definition. People talk about virtual space when video images are projected onto three walls and about virtual reality when they can move through a video image using a joystick.
What is striking about the ZKM media museum is that many exhibits are more reminiscent of games than art. This is a phenomenon which can increasingly be observed in interactive works. Motion capture systems have watered down the terminology even fur­ther in recent years. Does the fact that sensors can be used to convert the movements of dancers into music via a computer have anything to do with virtuality? Are we not dea­ling here simply with contact systems or interfaces?
Three events at the transmediale will attempt to focus awareness and get closer to clear- cut definitions. ‘Virtual art space’ is a new field for experiments in which the difference between experiment and charlatanism is often blurred.