Virtual art : from illusion to immersion 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 virtual art fits into the art history of illusion and immersion. He describes the metamorphosis of the concepts of art and the image and relates those concepts to interactive art interface design agents telepresence and image evolution. Grau retells art history as media history helping us to understand the phenomenon of virtual reality beyond the hype.Grau shows how each epoch used the technical means available to produce maximum illusion. He discusses frescoes such as those in the Villa dei Misteri in Pompeii and the gardens of the Villa Livia near Primaporta Renaissance and Baroque illusion spaces and panoramas which were the most developed form of illusion achieved through traditional methods of painting and the mass image medium before film. Through a detailed analysis of perhaps the most important German panorama Anton von Werners 1883 The Battle of Sedan Grau shows how immersion produced emotional responses. He traces immersive cinema through Cinerama Sensorama Expanded Cinema 3 D Omnimax and IMAX and the head mounted display with its military origins. He also examines those characteristics of virtual reality that distinguish it from earlier forms of illusionary art. His analysis draws on the work of contemporary artists and groups ART+COM Maurice Benayoun Charlotte Davies Monika Fleischmann Ken Goldberg Agnes Hegedues Eduardo Kac Knowbotic Research Laurent Mignonneau Michael Naimark Simon Penny Daniela Plewe Paul Sermon Jeffrey Shaw Karl Sims Christa Sommerer and Wolfgang Strauss. Grau offers not just a history of illusionary space but also a theoretical framework for analyzing its phenomenologies functions and strategies throughout history and into the future 5. Virtual art digital! The natural interface : Charlotte Davies: Osmose ; The suggestive potential of the interface ; Aesthetic distance ; The concept of the work in processual or virtual art 6. Spaces of knowledge : Knowbotic research (KR + cF): Dialogue with the Knowbotic South ; The virtual Denkraum I: The Home of the Brain (1991) ; The virtual Denkraum II: Memory Theater VR by Agnes Hegedues (1997) ; Ultima Ratio: for a theater of the media ; Exegetes of the panorama: Benayoun Shaw Naimark ; Mixed realities ; Virtual realitys dynamic images ; The computer: handtool or thinktool 7. Telepresence: art and history of an idea : Telepresence now! ; Subhistory of telepresence ; Telepistermological implications: presence and distance 8. Evolution : Genetic art: Christa Sommerer and Laurent Mignonneau ; A Volve ; Artful games: the evolution of images ; A Lifes party ; A Lifes subhistory ; Transgenic art 9. Perspectives. 1. Introduction : The science of the image ; Immersion 2. Historic spaces of illusion : Immersive image strategies of the classical world ; The Chambre du Cerf in the Papal Palace at Avignon ; In Rome on Mount Olympus: Baldassare Peruzzis Sala delle Prospettive ; Immersion in biblical Jerusalem: Gaudenzio Ferrari at Sacro Monte ; Baroque ceiling panoramas ; Viewing with military precision: the birth of the panorama ; Barkers invention: developing the space of illusionistic landscapes ; Construction and function of the panorama ; The panorama: a controversial medium circa 1800 ; The role of economics in the international expansion of the panorama 3. The panorama of the Battle of Sedan: obedience through presence : The battle in the picture ; The power of illusion suggestion and immersion ; Anton von Werner: artist and power player ; Political objectives ; The panorama stock exchange ; With Helmholtzs knowledge: democratic perspective versus soldiers immersion ; Strategy and work of the panoramist ; Lart industriel ; The rotunda 4. Intermedia stages of virtual reality in the twentieth century: art as inspiration of evolving media : Monets Water Lilies panorama in Giverny ; Prampolinis futurist polydimensional scenospace ; Film: visions of extending the cinema screen and beyond ; Highways and byways to virtual reality: the ultimate union with the computer in the image ; The rhetoric of a new dawn: the California dream ; Virtual reality in its military and industrial context ; Art and media evolution I.