Immersion and Experience

Entrare nell’immagine: un desiderio che accompagna l’umanità
dall’alba dei tempi, perdendosi nelle nebbie del mito. Un desiderio
che nei secoli ogni cultura visuale ha cercato di realizzare con
i mezzi di volta in volta disponibili. E che oggi le tecnologie di realtà
virtuale promettono di soddisfare: l’immagine si fa ambiente immersivo,
ci avvolge a 360 gradi, è presenza in carne e ossa. Saltano
le cornici che la confinavano in un mondo a parte. Persino il
medium in cui si concretizza sembra farsi trasparente. Una volta
aperto il passaggio fra il mondo reale e il mondo iconico, dobbiamo
però aspettarci un varco percorribile nei due sensi: penetriamo
nel mondo dell’immagine, ma l’immagine esonda nel nostro
mondo. Al desiderio si accompagna il timore per tale tracimazione.
Questo libro esplora quel doppio movimento, e ricostruisce la
storia di quel desiderio-timore, delle fantasie che ha innescato e
delle strategie escogitate per corrispondervi: dal proto-immersivo
Narciso ai caschi VR, passando per il trompe-l’oeil e le sculture
viventi, gli specchi e le architetture illusionistiche, i panorami e le
fantasmagorie, l’arte-ambiente, il cinema in 3D. Indugiando sulla
soglia che al contempo separa e congiunge quei due mondi, ne
subiamo il fascino, e ne apprezziamo il rischio.

In order to bridge interdisciplinary differences in Presence research and to establish connections between Presence and “older” concepts of psychology and communication, a theoretical model of the formation of Spatial Presence is proposed. It is applicable to the exposure to different media and intended to unify the existing efforts to develop a theory of Presence. The model includes assumptions about attention allocation, mental models, and involvement, and considers the role of media factors and user characteristics as well, thus incorporating much previous work. It is argued that a commonly accepted model of Spatial Presence is the only solution to secure further progress within the international, interdisciplinary and multiple-paradigm community
of Presence research.

In this paper, we review the use of virtual and augmented reality technologies for capture and externalization of tacit knowledge from complex activity in knowledge-intensive professions. We focus on technologies for converting experience hidden in activity with the aim to boost industry competitiveness, innovation, and facilitate learning on the job. As such types of knowledge and experience are difficult to capture and represent in traditional media, we explore emerging technology along two lines of investigation. First, we look at applications of virtual reality to then, second, focus on using sensors, augmented reality, and wearable technologies. We discuss existing and future applications of experience capturing with virtual and augmented reality technologies. This review provides a comprehensive overview for those interested in recording virtual, real, and augmented activities, methods for delivering the recorded data, and extracting knowledge.

In an essay on the picture frame, Georg Simmel claims the sacredness of this device considered fun- damental for the dialectical articulation of the delicate relationship between art and reality which con- stitutes, for the german philosopher, the core of his aesthetic meditations, including those on theatre. In the most contemporary forms of immersive theatre it is nevertheless no longer the framing of the proscenium – that imaginary “fourth wall”, according to a purely visual approach, through which the audience observes actions on stage – that threshold-figure (according to Simmel’s viewpoint) to which the function of separating and connecting the factual reality of the spectator and the counterfactual one of the (dramatic) possible world is delegated. In fact, in the immersive theatre this boundary devi- ce is embodied by the actor himself, who becomes the figure responsible for the continuous transfor- mation and transfiguration of the performative frame, decidedly more opaque and less transparent than to more traditional theatrical forms, such as bourgeois drama.
We are, therefore, in presence of a sort of 2.0 fictionality, no longer delegated to that specific fictional frame marked by boundary indicators such as the darkness in theater room, the curtain, the silence, etc. Actually, in this new kind of fictionality bodily matter and aesthesia at stake in the actor-spectator experience are solely account for the establishment of the performative frame.

Aldous Huxley's concern with media, and in particular with cinema, is one of the most conspicuous components of his work as a social critic and as a novelist. Evaluating its potential societal functions, as an artistic genre, a didactic cultural tool for documentaries or as a mass entertainment venue, determined his critical relationship towards the medium. Due to his impaired eyesight, Huxley's attention to perception, intertwined with advancing cinema-technologies, was not restricted to the visual, but extended to all of the human senses, as he demonstrated in the Feelies of his novel Brave New World (1932). Primarily with regard to mechanomorphic reflexes of human conditioning, this cinematic concept is interpreted by drawing from articles and essays of evolutionary, psychological, political, and aesthetic perspectives that Huxley developed on a parallel writing track in popular print media during the 1920s/30s. In confronting modes of multisensory immersion around 1900 with some of the 20 th /21 st centuries, this contribution reevaluates Huxley's vision of future cinema.

Mit diesem Titel liegt eine veröffentlichte Magisterarbeit vor, deren redaktioneller Beschreibungstext auf dem Buchrücken einen „Blick über den Tellerrand hinaus“ verspricht. Dieses Versprechen soll sich durch drei Leitaspekte einlösen, die den Einfluss von virtuellen Welten auf das menschliche Verhalten fokussieren, zweitens das Suchtpotenzial und die Isolation von der Außenwelt thematisieren und drittens die neuen sozialen Komponenten beleuchten, die durch die ‚Begehung’ virtueller Welten ermöglicht werden.

A presentation pertinent to the development of virtual reality (VR) software for research, clinical, and academic purposes. It includes also links to useful online tutorials, webpages, and assets. This presentation is the fourth part of the VR workshops series I ran at the uCreate Studio of the University of Edinburgh.

Every May, Creighton students travel to Peru as part of the Discovering Peru: Church, Society and Language in Context program. While in Peru, they directly engage and accompany people in the Villa El Salvador district of Lima, one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods.

Une étude quantitative menée auprès de 916 visiteurs d’un musée français a permis de mesurer les bénéfices expérientiels retirés de l’usage d’un outil interactif dans un contexte muséal et de vérifier si le vécu diffère en fonction de l’utilisation ou non d’un outil numérique de médiation et de sa nature (mobile ou fixe), mais également en fonction de la prise en compte de dimensions fonctionnelle ou hédonique de l’expérience d’usage.

A presentation pertinent to the development of virtual reality (VR) software for research, clinical, and academic purposes. It includes also links to useful online tutorials, webpages, and assets. This presentation is the third part of the VR workshops series I ran at the uCreate Studio of the University of Edinburgh.

Becoming commercially available in the mid 1960s, video quickly became integral to the intense experimentalism of New York City's music and art scenes. The medium was able to record image and sound at the same time, which allowed composers to visualize their music and artists to sound their images. But as well as creating unprecedented forms of audiovisuality, video work also producedinteractive spaces that questioned conventional habits of music and art consumption. This book explores the first decade of creative video work, focusing on the ways in which video technology was used to dissolve the boundaries between art and music.

The objective of this article is twofold. In the first part, I discuss two issues central to any theoretical inquiry into mental imagery: embodiment and consciousness. I do so against the backdrop of second-generation cognitive science, more specifically the increasingly popular research framework of embodied cognition, and I consider two caveats attached to its current exploitation in narrative theory. In the second part, I attempt to cast new light on readerly mental imagery by offering a typology of what I propose to be its four basic varieties. The typology is grounded in the framework of embodied cognition and it is largely compatible with key neuroscientific and other experimental evidence produced within the framework.

This article presents the category of emersion in videogames. The author of this article understands emersion as an experience of such elements of a game that weaken the impression of non-mediated participation in events presented in the game (some researchers call this impression "immersion"). Emersive elements of the game reveal the mediated character of the action the player takes part in. Emersion may have varied status: it may be incidental (e.g. when it is a result of an unforeseen glitch), repeatable (e.g. as a result of a mechanism typical for a specific genre) or designed.
The last case seems to be the most interesting one, because designed emerisve elements may provide meaningful or artistic results. Designed emersive factors bring new possibilities of creation, which are not achievable through the non-digital and non-interactive forms of expression.

Player immersion is the holy grail of computer game designers particularly in environments such as those found in first-person shooters. However, little is understood about the processes of immersion and much is assumed. This is certainly the case with sound and its immersive potential. Some theoretical work explores this sonic relationship but little experimental data exist to either confirm or invalidate existing theories and assumptions.

This paper summarizes and reports on the results of a preliminary psychophysiological experiment to measure human arousal and valence in the context of sound and immersion in first-person shooter computer games. It is conducted in the context of a larger set of psychophysiological investigations assessing the nature of the player experience and is the first in a series of systematic experiments investigating the player's relationship to sound in the genre.

In addition to answering questionnaires, participants were required to play a bespoke Half-Life 2 level whilst being measured with electroencephalography, electrocardiography, electromyography, galvanic skin response and eye tracking equipment. We hypothesize that subjective responses correlated with objective measurements provide a more accurate assessment of the player's physical arousal and emotional valence and that changes in these factors may be mapped to subjective states of immersion in first-person shooter computer games.

In the following article, I examine Martin Heidegger’s philosophy of dwelling with a view to its importance for the concept of ‘place’. It is my interest to show how a phenomenological concept of place can elucidate the phenomenology of virtual reality. I begin by contextualising the investigation through a presentation of Jeff Malpas’ concept of the non-autonomy of the virtual, and argue for a clearer understanding of the notion of causal non-autonomy. Furthermore, I argue that the autonomy or lack thereof of virtual reality should not lead to the conclusion that virtual reality cannot be experienced and examined as a self-standing entity; that in order to properly understand virtual reality, we cannot limit ourselves to the reductionistic view presented by Malpas, but must account also for the phenomenology of experiencing virtuality – and under such a phenomenological consideration, the distinctions made between non-virtual and virtual reality are made more diffuse. I then argue that we can plausibly accept that places may exist in virtual reality, despite current technological and practical limitations. In addition, I go on to consider some possible metaphysical differences between virtual and non-virtual places.

The aim of this thesis is to provide insight into methods of designing and implementing believable and internally consistent environments for use within video games.
The first chapter introduces the ideas of immersion, flow and suspension of disbelief, which will be referred to throughut the rest of the text.
The second chapter deals with setting up the boundaries of playable space, first presenting the history of such boundaries and then proceeding to discuss types of boundaries in modern games and their effect on the player.
The third chapter focuses on the navigation of playable space, distinguishing between three types of navigation based on the level of freedom of movement. The impact of navigation on gameplay flow is examined, as well as methods of steering player in the right direction and the necessity of maintaining spatial continuity for supporting suspension of disbelief.
The fourth chapter is concerned with breathing life into the environment through the choice of a visual style and technique of environmental storytelling.
The thesis concludes with the idea that a video game's space serves as a medium between the gameplay and the narrative, needing to support both in order to achieve believability. A common thread throughout the preceding chapters is identified in the idea of internal consistency, while the relationship between the genre and atmosphere of a game and the required pacing of gameplay flow is considered as an avenue of further study.

In seinem zukunftsweisenden Text The Cyborg’s Dilemma: Embodiment in Virtual Environments (1997) entwickelte Frank Biocca das Konzept des progressive embodiment. Mit diesem Theoriekonzept entwirft Biococa ein interaktionistisches Modell des mediatisierten Raumes, in welchem sich physischer Körper und technologische Apparatur über ein komplex gestaltetes Interface miteinander verbinden lassen. Diese Verbindung bleibt allerdings nicht ein rein technisches Kalkül, sondern mündet direkt im kognitionsphilosophischen ›Cyborg’s Dilemma‹ und der damit verbundenen Problemstellung, wie sich das subjektivierte Ich während der rezeptiven Verkörperung innerhalb digitaler Bildsimulationen autonom von der artifiziellen Präsenz des Technischen abgrenzen kann. Dies führt zu der bereits europhänomenologisch anmutenden Frage: »Where am ›I‹ present?«.
Mit Blick auf aktuelle Medientechnologien – vor allem in Bezug
auf immersive Interfaces und Displays – lässt sich plausibel vom
progressive embodiment oder von Medien der Verkörperung in zweifacher Hinsicht sprechen: Zum einen unterstützen die von Biococa genannten Interfaces die virtuelle Verkörperung der Rezipienten in den simulierten Bildraum hinein; und zum anderen entwickeln sich die Medien immer stärker zu ›Körpern der Bilder‹, indem sie eine multimodale und damit sinnlich-extensive Repräsentation erlauben.

Ce travail de recherche propose une mesure française du transport narratif adaptée aux expériences de dispositifs numériques de narration transmédia dans le champ des arts et de la culture. Tout d'abord, sur la base d'une revue de la littérature portant sur le transport narratif et sa mesure, une proposition d'échelle a été présentée et justifiée. Puis, une étude qualitative a été mise en place permettant de confirmer les dimensions du transport narratif et de générer des items afin de construire un instrument de mesure. Les résultats des analyses factorielles sont développés afin de proposer une échelle de mesure, fiable et valide, du transport narratif vécu par le consommateur culturel à travers l'utilisation d'un dispositif transmédia. Mots clés Expérience de consommation transmédia, transport narratif, échelle de mesure, recherche quantitative, contexte culturel

Immersive cinema was made for modern storytellers and has inspired innovative ways to create films. Unrestricted by boundaries an immersive film maker places the audience at the center of a story revealing each scene through manipulation of our perceptions.
Storytellers and technicians are inventing a new language for this immersive cinema which may be expressed in many ways. This evolving experiential language is a synthesis of jargon and techniques from many disciplines, each contributing its own idiosyncrasies to our conversations.
As a common language for immersive cinema is translated and adopted, we should become more proficient in communications with our peers and will give our audiences more meaningful immersive experiences.

This short essay examines the working method of the late sound artist Michael Brewster. Using sound as a material for creating immersive installations, Brewster employed sound in a novel way and created a viewer activated environment predicated on one's actions. Removing the viewer from a passive position to an active one was essential to his approach. This essay argues that Brewster created subtle collaborations with the viewer, relying on them as well as the material of sound.

ImmerseMe is a virtual reality technology (VR technology) software with automatic speech recognition (ASR) embedded into language learning lessons designed for language study. The desktop version is currently licensed to over 13,000 users (Cardwell, 2017). Created from 360 degree videos recorded from around the world, ImmerseMe provides language learners with novel opportunities to interact with pragmatically authentic situations, i.e. buying bread, reserving a room, asking for directions. Despite increasing interest and momentum in the field, there remains a dearth of studies investigating second language (L2) learning through virtual reality (Lee and Wong, 2015; Lin & Lan 2015), and even fewer examining L2 in ASR (Liakin et al., 2015).

Considering the L2 affordances of ImmerseMe, what are the average minutes of use for first time and returning users? How might this focused time of spoken output and interactivity impact language learners? Time spent interacting in the target language is crucial for second language acquisition (Ellis, 2005). “Time on task” is especially important for SLA in computer-assisted language learning (CALL) environments (Blake, 2011, p. 21). In a typical classroom, L2 students are rarely provided with several instances of personalized and immediate feedback on oral production. ImmerseMe users must continually speak target utterances into the microphone to progress through lessons. ImmerseMe offers over 450+ lessons in 9 languages that range in minutes depending on lesson storyline pathways.

Analyzing company backend user data, preliminary results indicate that 52% of learners used the software for 19-35 minutes during one session. Data demonstrate that sessions for returning users averaged 3 minutes less than their counterparts. Compared to a classroom setting, time immersed in individualized speaking and listening practice for 20 minutes is valuable and rare for typical language classes. These affordances and time averages suggest there is merit in L2 VR technology software as a complement to classroom language instruction.

Książka "Allotopie. Topografia światów fikcjonalnych" powstała z bardzo przyziemnej potrzeby: stworzenia swego rodzaju kompendium zbierającego teorie fikcji i narracji przydatne w analizowaniu literatury fantastycznej i światotwórczej. W odróżnieniu jednak od większości typowych monografii fantasy i SF tutaj głównym celem stała się próba zrozumienia fenomenu tytułowej allotopii – czyli takiego osobliwego świata, który mimo całej swej fantastyczności dąży do ukazywania się czytelnikowi jako wręcz bardziej realny aniżeli świat rzeczywisty. Z tej jednakowoż racji, że allotopia jest raczej rodzajem fikcyjnego świata niż gatunkiem czy nawet konwencją, przywoływane w książce powieści i cykle powieściowe – m.in. Płasklandia Edwina Abbotta Abbotta, Silmarillion J.R.R. Tolkiena, Peanatema Neala Stephensona czy Inne pieśni Jacka Dukaja – ukazują konieczność interdyscyplinarnego otwarcia badań literaturoznawczych, którym przychodzi nieraz kapitulować przed złożonością obecnych w nich konstrukcji narracyjnych. Opisywany tu szczególny przypadek fantastyki światotwórczej ma w konsekwencji niewiele wspólnego z typowym zabiegiem fantastyki, porywającym czytelnika z przydomowego ogródka do „nibylandii” i dziedziny ułudy – za to o wiele więcej ze świadomym zamieszkaniem w „nigdylandii”, i to w dodatku z wszelkimi konsekwencjami wydziedziczenia z wszystkiego tego, co naturalne, prawdziwe, faktycz¬ne, swojskie i znajome. Allotopii w odróżnieniu od klasycznej fantastyki nie wystarcza zatem proste przeciwstawienie świata zwyczajnego światu niezwyczajnemu dla prostego wydobycia dzielącej je cechy niezwyczajności. Bo choć z pewnością jest wówczas łatwiej odróżnić to, co faktyczne, od tego, co fantastyczne, to nieporównanie już trudniej doświadczyć tego, bez czego allotopia nie miałaby racji bytu – a zatem imersywnego zanurzenia w realia takiego świata, z którym można się do tego stopnia związać, by chcieć doń powracać i móc za nim tęsknić.

Digital technologies are being introduced in museums and other informal learning environments alongside more traditional interpretive and communication media. An increasing number of studies has proved the potential of digitally mediated cultural heritage experiences. However, there is still a lot of controversy as to the advantages and disadvantages of introducing the digital into museum settings, primarily related to the risks and investment in terms of time and human and financial resources required. This work introduces the MUSETECH model, a comprehensive framework for evaluating museum technology
before and after its introduction into a museum setting. One of the unique features of our framework is to consider the evaluation of digital technologies from three different perspectives: the cultural heritage professional, cultural heritage institution, and museum visitor. The framework benefited from an extensive review of the current state of the art and from inputs from cultural heritage professionals, designers, and engineers. MUSETECH can be used as a tool for reflection before,
during, and after introducing novel digital media resources. The model covers technologies as diverse as mobile museum guides, Augmented and Virtual Reality applications, hands-on museum interactives, edutainment applications, digitally mediated tangible and embodied experiences, or online approaches used for museum education and learning.

Recent developments in image-making techniques have resulted in a drastic blurring of the threshold between the world of the image and the real world. Immersive and interactive virtual environments have enabled the production of pictures that elicit in the perceiver a strong feeling of being incorporated in a new and autonomous world. In doing so, they negate themselves as " images-of-something " , as icons: they are veritable " an-icons ". This kind of picture undermines the mainstream representationalist paradigm of Western image theories: " presentification " rather than representation is at stake here. My paper will address this challenging iconoscape, arguing for the necessity of a specific methodological approach—namely, an-iconology.

Several studies provided evidence for the effectiveness of gamification of health behaviors (e.g., exercising or walking) via video games. However, little is known about whether individuals who endorse specific gaming motivations are more likely to derive health benefits from gaming. Building upon previous studies on gamification of health behaviors, we examined whether specific gaming motives (e.g., potential health benefits) influenced Pok emon GO gaming time and gaming health outcomes, a phenomenon we termed The Pikachu Effect. We introduced health motivation as a novel component among previously established gaming motives, which reflects the ongoing gameplay transformation and increased health potential of modern games. Volunteers (N ¼ 444) completed two measurements of Pok emon GO motivations, gaming time, physical activity, and time spent outdoors within a 6 week interval. The results supported the Pikachu effect hypothesis as health motivation and social motivation were related to health outcomes. Furthermore, we replicated previous findings indicating that individuals who spent more time playing Pok emon GO were more physical active. We also evidenced a new Pok emon GO playing behavioral benefit, i.e., increased time spent outdoors among more active players. We explored meaningful individual differences; for example, men played more and derived more benefits from Pok emon GO. These findings suggest that health motivation operates in parallel with previously identified main motives for gaming. Accounting for motivation is essential for a more accurate prediction of gaming time and gaming-related health behaviors.

Since the 1950s zoos have taken up the mission to make their audience aware of conservational issues. The ideological shift towards conservational goals as well as public concerns about living conditions of captive wild animals influenced the concepts of zoo design. Zoos had to integrate popular imaginations about naturalness and scientific research on ecological issues, an ambivalent mixture between science and aesthetics. During the 1950s and the beginning 1960s planners have worked on a new master plan for the Zoological Garden of Basel in Switzerland. The old buildings of the nineteenth-century’s city zoo were demolished and replaced with animal houses styled according to post-war modernism. Veterinary and behavioural research as well as new materials like concrete, glass and tiles supported the conditions for conservational tasks like health and fertility. Nevertheless, the zoo’s environment should appear as a surrogate of Nature to enhance the public’s awareness of conservational concerns and ecological relations. The artist Kurt Brägger modelled illusionistic natural habitats with the help of a semiotic program, which transferred geomorphological structures of the regional landscape of Basel into the zoo. A dramaturgy of sight-lines and lightning effects led the visitors through the park to immerse the recipients into a coherent landscape experience. The new landscape design and the souterrain buildings of the 1960s relied on contemporary theoretical studies about walking experiences and phenomenological space. Conservational claims and ecological rhetorics were closely related to behavioural research on the relational space of territory and social behaviour. All these ideas influenced the design of Nature for both kind of users, for visitors and animals. The represention of zoological research contrasted the immersive effects of the popular themed exhibition space. Hence, the built environment of the zoo condensed and combined contradictory ideas of progress, conservation and reassurance.

Chapter 1. The notion and conceptions of virtual reality. Chapter 2. "Platonic" senses of the "virtual": the "virtual" as a produced by the activity of the objectively-mental. Chapter 3. "Platonic" senses of the "virtual": naturally-caused subjectively-mental virtual reality. Chapter 4. "Platonic" senses of the "virtual": artificially-caused subjectively-mental virtual reality. Chapter 5. "Aristotelian" and "Plato-Aristotelian" senses of the "virtual".

Die prozessuale Wirkungsweise der Immersion beschränkt sich nicht nur auf technisch-apparative Medien oder computergestützte Mediensysteme, sondern zeigt sich innerhalb zahlreicher Forschungsdiskurse ebenfalls bei analogen oder monomodalen Medien. Die Gradstufen und Ausprägungen von immersiven Prozessen ereignen sich dabei stets über ein bivektorielles Induktionsschema: Entweder wird Immersion maßgeblich über ein mediales Reiz- beziehungsweise Strukturangebot über sensomotorisch fundierte Wahrnehmungsprozesse eingeleitet oder über weitestgehend subjektive, phantasmatisch-imaginäre Annäherungen an ein Medium. Der Immersionsprozess besitzt allerdings nicht nur das Potenzial zur Analyse und Beschreibung spezifischer Rezeptionsprozesse im Verhältnis von Medium, Interface und Rezipient, sondern er lässt sich als eine komplexe Modellannahme zur Beschreibung einer Kulturtheorie medialer Hybride verstehen, die der Medienevolution der letzten Jahrzehnte adäquat Rechnung tragen kann. In Anknüpfung an Ernst Cassirers animal symbolicum und Hans Jonas’ homo pictor formuliert dieser Artikel die These des homo immergens.

Das 2006 in Paris eröffnete »Musée du Quai Branly – Jacques Chirac« (im Folgenden abgekürzt als BRANLY) und das 2007 in Köln eröffnete »Kolumba – Kunstmuseum des Erzbistums Köln« (weiterhin abgekürzt als KOLUMBA) stehen, so die These meiner Arbeit, für eine Strömung in der Museumslandschaft, bei der nicht mehr die didaktisch-historische Wissensvermittlung im Vordergrund steht, sondern das Museum als Ort für ein emotionales, sinnlich-ästhetisches Erleben von Kunst verstanden wird. Als Ethnologi-sches Museum (BRANLY) und Kunstmuseum (KOLUMBA) gehören sie unterschiedli-chen Museumstypologien an und scheinen auf den ersten Blick völlig verschiedene mu-seale und architektonische Konzepte zu verfolgen. Dennoch lässt sich bei beiden Museen ein Ansatz beobachten, den ich »Wiederverzauberung des Museums« nenne und in dieser Dissertation untersuche. In dem vorliegenden Dissertationsprojekt untersuche ich, mit welchen konkreten Mittel und auf welchen Ebenen die Strategie der ›Wiederverzauberung‹ eingesetzt wird. Das bezieht sich sowohl auf das Museum als Ort, die darin präsentierten Ausstellungstücke wie auch die Museumsbesucher*innen. Ich konzentriere mich dabei im Wesentlichen auf zwei Ebenen: Auf der Raumebene untersuche ich, wie durch die Gebäudearchitektur und die Gestaltung der Ausstellungsräume immersive und atmosphärische Raumbilder ge-schaffen werden. Auf der Ebene der Ebene der Objekte betrachte ich sowohl die Präsen-tation und Inszenierung einzelner Objekte und Objektgruppen als auch die Bedeutung, die durch Objektzusammenstellungen geschaffen wird. Durch den Vergleich der beiden Museen zeige ich, dass es trotz der sichtbaren Unterschiede eine Reihe von strukturellen Gemeinsamkeiten gibt, die zu einem ähnlichen Effekt führen.
Die vorliegende Dissertation stellt damit den ersten systematischen Vergleich der Muse-ums- und Ausstellungskonzepte des BRANLY und des KOLUMBA dar. Bisher wurden die beiden Museen eher als singuläre Fälle betrachtet. Ich vertrete hingegen die These, dass das BRANLY und das KOLUMBA aufgrund ähnlicher Strategien Teil eines allge-meineren Trends für eine ›Wiederverzauberung des Museums‹ sind.

Celem artykułu jest zarysowanie problematyki relacji pomiędzy grami wideo a nostalgią oraz zaproponowanie kierunków badania tych zjawisk. Nostalgia, oprócz bycia tęsknotą za tym, co przeszłe, ujawnia się także w naszej relacji do przyszłości, a także teraźniejszości. Jest wyrazem pragnienia twórców gier, a także wiąże się z doświadczeniami fanów. Nie jest własnością przedmiotów, ale przede wszystki jest obecna w doświadczeniu gracza. W artykule skupiam się na praktykach przywracania tego, co przeszłe (zgodnie z podziałem na nostalgię refleksyjną i restauracyjną, za: S. Boym , The Future of Nostalgia, 2001). Przede wszystkim staram się pokazać, co wyróżnia gry wśród innych mediów w kwestii konstruowania światów, i jakie ma to znaczenie dla nostalgii. Celem nie jest dogłębna analiza wszystkich nostalgicznych zjawisk na polu gier wideo, a jedynie ukazanie przesunięcia jej sposobu rozumienia – od problematyki retro do doświadczenia gracza.
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The article aims at showing the relation between video games and nostalgia, and propose direc-tions of researching this specific field. Nostalgia, in spite of being considered as longing for the past, can also function in our relation to future and present. It reveals itself in video games devel-opers’ yearnings, as well as in experiences of the fans. It is not a feature of so e objects but, first of all, it is present in player’s experience. In this article I focus on practices of bringing back the past (regarding the distinction on reflexive and restorative nostalgia in S. Boym, The Furute of Nostalgia, 2001). Above all I try to show what exactly distinguishes video games from other me-dia in matter of constructing worlds and what does it mean for nostalgia. The aim of this article isn’t an in-depth analysis of all video games nostalgic phenomenon, but capturing a shift from understanding nostalgia as an example of retro culture to connecting it to player’s experience.

The article is the first Polish attempt to provide a theoretical framework for a relatively unknown term ‘allotopia’, coined by Umberto Eco in essay Il mondi della fantascienza. However, instead of following rather poststructuralist Eco’s reasoning, the text proceeds with the deconstruction of the underlain dichotomy between real (natural, ordinary, known, empirical, realistic) and unreal (unnatural, extraordinary, unknown, counterempirical, fantastic) world — which is subsequently exposed as fundamental for heretofore fantasy and SF studies. Consequently, the paper encourages postmodern reading of those ‘allotopian’ texts that resign from supporting a colonial, two-world model in favour of philosophy conscious worldbuilding.