Jean Baudrillard (1987) states that "[...

] The secret of the interface is that the Other is within it

virtually the Same - otherness being surreptitiously confiscated by the machine."
Choose two artists discussed in the lecture (Lynn Hershman, Paul Sermon, Blast Theory) and one
work for each of the two. Discuss their relation to 'otherness' through their use of technology.
The mixed reality is the integration between the real and the virtual this produces a recreated
environment in which virtual and real space coexist. Augment reality is a present factor within
mixed reality, AR is the manipulation and recreation of the physical world, through a device, to
visually modify the real world with the augmented version.
By, considering the intimate connection between the physical world and overlaid AR content, we
believe that a promising new AR interface metaphor can arise from combining the enhanced display
possibilities of Augmented Reality with the intuitive physical manipulation of Tangible User
Interfaces. We call this combined Tangible Augmented Reality (Billinghurst, Kato & Myojin,
2009, p. 16)
Blast Theory is an interactive theatrical arts and media group form brighten. They use technology
within their work to simulate the virtual world and combine it with the real. The audience are
usually at the focus point of their work and they are pushed into a mixed reality performance
instillation that they can explore at their own pace. Their piece Can you see me now has the bases of
a game, combining the online virtual space with the world on the streets at the same time. Players
from anywhere in the world can play online in a virtual city against members of Blast Theory
(Can you see me now?, n.d.) The performers are viewed within the virtual space online to the
players, through satellite tracking, the aim of the player is to get their character around the city with
getting caught themselves. This displacement of self within the constructs of virtual/augmented
reality shifts the alignment of what it is to coexist with technology and the boundaries of
undeveloped virtual space.
With up to 20 people playing online at a time, players can exchange tactics and send messages to
Blast Theory. An audio stream from Blast Theory's walkie talkies allowed you to eavesdrop on your
pursuers: getting lost, cold and out of breath on the streets of the city. (Can you see me now?, n.d.)
Paul Sermon uses the notion of telepresance within his work of bed, sofa and table, which means to
be in many places at only one time. This relates to Baudrillard's theory of 'the real' as well as strong
suggestions of time and space. Using Telematic interactive media he enables the audiences
members to interact with one another in a mixed virtual and real space. Sermon assertsIn many
ways the sofa and the bed amount to much the same thing, they can also transform themselves into
each other, becoming a "sofa/bed". The semiology of the bed, that proved to be so effective in
"Telematic Dreaming" (n.d., Para 1.).
Mixed reality performers/performances challenge the the real and and all the flimsy constructs that
lay within it. It arises questions of reality and what it means to exist within many realities
simultaneously. Moreover defining that not one reality is permitted or, as of yet, defined as the 'real'
one.
The real is produced from miniaturized cells, matrices, and memory banks, models of control - and
it can be reproduced an indefinite number of times from these. It no longer needs to be rational,
because it no longer measures itself against either an ideal or negative instance. It is no longer
anything but operational. In fact, it is no longer really the real, because no imaginary envelops it
anymore. It is a hyperreal, produced from a radiating synthesis of combinatory models in a
hyperspace without atmosphere. ( Baudrillard, 1994, p. 1)

Bibliography

Baudrillard, J. (1994). Simulacra and Simulation (S. Glaser, Trans.). Michigan: University of
Michigan Press. (Original work published in 1981)
Billinghurst, M. Kato, H. & Myojin, S. (2009). Tangible Augmented Reality Interfaces. In R.
Shumaker (Ed.), Virtual and Mixed Reality (pp. 16). Verlag Berlin and Heidelberg: Springer.
Can you see me now? (n.d). Retrieved from: http://www.blasttheory.co.uk/bt/work_cysmn.html
Sermon, P. (n.d.). Retrieved From: http://creativetechnology.salford.ac.uk/paulsermon/vision/