
IMAREAL focuses on questions of the role of material and materiality in cultural phenomena, as evidenced by the research perspective “Materialities – Material ties", which places the material at the core of its inquiries. Numerous factors influence the utilisation of materials, ranging from perceptible properties of material to the attribution of meaning to materials.
In order to gain an interdisciplinary understanding of the significance of materials for material culture, IMAREAL has developed an approach with which the relevance of the respective material-related properties and attributions for cultural dynamics can be specifically worked out. The joint considerations center on the role of matter within the processes of production and practice in cultural systems [more on this in MEMO #10].
But what role does the virtual play in all of this? And how can “the virtual” respective “virtuality” be defined at all?
The notion of virtuality has undergone numerous shifts in meaning, including its contemporary use in the domain of computer games. Aristotle’s concept of virtuality can be understood as a potential or “capacity” (“dynamis”) that does not come to realisation (i.e. “energia”) but nevertheless has an impact on reality. The virtual is not physically present, yet it has a tangible “effect” (in the dual sense of “appearing” and “effecting”). It is not material, yet it is real, and thus differs from fiction. The virtual’s capacity to exert a tangible effect stems from its dynamic relationship with actualisation as a potential, wherein it “works” precisely through this reference. It is important to clarify exactly what function the material has in the respective actualisation.
The present approach, entitled “Sensing Materiality and Virtuality”, has been the focus of research at IMAREAL for a considerable period. The approach examines the complex relationship between materiality and virtuality. Of particular interest is the role of the senses and the manner in which they are engaged in scenarios and strategies involving virtualisation and materialisation. We assume that virtuality is fundamentally inconceivable without materiality, yet that all thinking is predicated on the prerequisite of human physicality. Thus, virtuality is oriented towards material structures but it is also subject to processes of dematerialisation and rematerialisation. Simulataneously, the processing and categorisation of sensory impressions is not possible without consulting ideas and associations from the virtual realm, just as the handling and shaping of the physical environment is significantly influenced by virtual images of the world.
The phenomenon of sensing, understood as the process of sensory perception and meaningful categorisation, can be conceptualised as a central process of aspectivation. The body is pivotal in both directions, in which the virtual is embodied in specific actualisations and vice versa.
Thomas Kühtreiber & Sabine Miesgang
The sub-project investigates the conceptual, organisational and practical transfer of “salvation” (i.e. divine grace) from healers to recipients via small religious objects, as outlined by Marcel Mauss’ concept of contiguity. A specific example of this phenomenon are the so-called “Fraisensteine” (also known as “Wundersteine”) from the pilgrimage site Sonntagberg (district of Amstetten, Lower Austria), dedicated to the Holy Trinity. These “Fraisensteine” are small objects made of fired clay, into which particles of the so-called “stone of signs”, one of two objects of grace at the pilgrimage site, were incorporated. According to local tradition, as documented in miracle books and votive images, primarily from the 18th century, physical contact with the Fraisenstein or the incorporation of substances or liquids in which the “stone” was placed could heal illnesses in humans and animals. “Fraisensteine” thus functioned as a medium for healing through tactile and gustatory senses. However, there is also a transmedial component attributed to the objects. The “mercy seat”, the sanctuary’s image of grace, was imprinted on the upper surface of the “Fraisensteine”, facilitating a visual connection to the sacred place. The focus thus shifts to the actualisation practices in which the “Fraisensteine” were embedded in complex reference structures, on the one hand, and participated in the practices of actualisation through their materiality, on the other.
Votive image, detail: use of a so-called “Fraisenstein”, 18th century, treasury, Sonntagberg (District of Amstetten; photo: Karin Kühtreiber)
The aim of this project is to investigate how the technical processing and manipulation of materials is used in art to trigger virtual effects. Of particular interest are techniques that transform materials and simulate their properties. Material properties such as brightness, lustre and luminosity in relation to light play a special role here, as they enable an aesthetic view that refers to the divine on a metaphysical level. Consequently, art techniques are to be understood and studied as a “set of tools” with which materials are processed in order to create and/or evoke dimensions and realities that lie beyond the physical contexts, but at the same time interact with them and are therefore equally real. Exploring the material properties associated with the virtual experience of transcendence, and the specific art techniques that evoke such an effect, should thus provide insights into the dynamics of object-bound virtuality.
Madonna, Tuscany, Florentine?, 1225–1250, detail. Cercina di Sesto Fiorentino, Sant’ Andrea. Art History Institute in Florence – Max Planck Institute (Photo: Barbara Schleicher)
Matthias Däumer & Peter Färberböck
“Virtuality” is a phenomenon that is employed extensively in philosophical debates (be it by Gilles Deleuze, Niklas Luhmann or in the universalist applications in “cybernetic anthropology” according to Stefan Rieger), but also in the generalised form of “virtual reality”. Indeed, the attempt to trace “virtuality” back to its specific medial conditionality in the production of utopian or dystopian settings has been so thoroughly and comprehensively debunked that it must almost seem like sacrilege.
The present study aims to commit this sacrilege on two occasions: firstly, by methodically delineating virtuality as a mode of representation of medieval journeys to hell; and secondly, by situating this representation within a specific medial relationship to contemporary first-person shooters. The model for this will be the avatar, the (originally Hindu) manifestation of a divine being. This avatar can become active as a Christian “soul body” both in hell and as a ludic gamer avatar in hell-like action settings. In this comparison, the focal point of our inquiry lies in the question of how substitutes of the human body can experience pain on behalf of the “divine gamer” and how this experience of pain is represented and conveyed in the computer game – or how it leads to striking paradoxes in the bodies of the souls in hell, which show interesting parallels to digital representations.
Deleuze, Gilles: Differenz und Wiederholung, translated by Joseph Vogl, Munich 1992 [original: Différence et répétition, Paris 1968].
Luhmann, Niklas: Die Form der Schrift, in: Hans Ulrich Gumbrecht/K. Ludwig Pfeiffer (eds.): Schrift. Munich 1993, pp. 349‒366.
Rieger, Stefan: Kybernetische Anthropologie. Eine Geschichte der Virtualität, Frankfurt/Main 2003.
Simon Marmion (ca. 1475): The gate to hell. Illustration for the “Visio Tnugdali” (source: GRI DiGital Collections); edited using the first-person shooter “Doom” (1993)