Welcome to the fourth episode of this series of A Line Traced, which focuses on Female Pioneers in the History of Virtual Reality. The series is hosted by Paula Strunden, a transdisciplinary VR artist with a background in architecture who taught on the AA’s Media Studies programme. In this episode, Paula interviews Char Davies, best known for her groundbreaking virtual reality artwork Osmose, which combines immersive environments, with embodied interactions, and a profound connection to nature.
This series of A Line Traced uncovers the untold stories of female pioneers in the early history of VR. Many of the prevailing narratives within this history focus on technological advancements, the development of devices and figures dubbed the 'grandfather', 'father' and 'godfather' of VR. Yet when we investigate the experiences created during the first peak of the VR industry in the 1990s, many of the most significant contributions were made by women. Artists and theorists like Char Davies, Brenda Laurel, Monika Fleischman and Thamiko Thiel, to name a few, transcended the boundaries of binary thinking in the realm of human-computer interaction, interweaving the actual and the virtual, and the body and the mind. By tracing the lines connecting these women, along with the contemporary voice of Krista Kim, this series aims to reshape our understanding of VR's past and reframe the ongoing debates around the role of VR in architecture and in contemporary society.
HOST:
PAULA STRUNDEN is a transdisciplinary VR artist with a background in architecture. She has studied in Vienna, Paris and London, and worked at Raumlabor in Berlin and Herzog and de Meuron in Basel. Paula is currently pursuing a PhD at the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, as part of the project ‘Communities of Tacit Knowledge (TACK): Architecture and its Ways of Knowing’, funded by the European Union’s Horizon 2020 programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 860413. She is the founder of XR Atlas, an interdisciplinary online platform, and is a passionate advocate for the development of alternative historiographies of virtual technologies.
ABOUT A LINE TRACED:
As our society continues to unveil fractures within its social and political systems, A Line Traced aims to examine topics that are immediate, prescient and impact the build environment in ways that require urgent architectural responses. An AirAA podcast recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes.
AirAA podcasts are conceived, recorded, mixed, edited and distributed from the Architectural Association School of Architecture, which is based in Bedford Square in London. Special thanks to Thomas Parkes for his contribution to the production of our episodes.
The opinions expressed in AirAA podcasts are solely those of the participants and do not represent the opinions of the Architectural Association as a whole.