An overview of the art historical antecedents to virtual reality and the impact of virtual reality on contemporary conceptions of art.Although many people view virtual reality as a totally new phenomenon, it has its foundations in an unrecognized history of immersive images. Indeed, the search for illusionary visual space can be traced back to antiquity. In this book, Oliver Grau shows how virt…
Tracing the cultural, material, and discursive history of an early manifestation of media culture in the making.Beginning in the late eighteenth century, huge circular panoramas presented their audiences with resplendent representations that ranged from historic battles to exotic locations. Such panoramas were immersive but static. There were other panoramas that moved--hundreds, and probably t…