Keynote exploring immersion in the arts and digital culture, examining whether immersive experiences function as escape, mechanisms of control, or forms of co-existence with the wider world.

Immersion in the arts is often associated with complex, cutting-edge technology. However, this technology-focused view limits our understanding of immersion. Immersion should be seen as the normal state of perception, while non-immersion is a historically and culturally specific mode created by “old media.”

The aesthetics of contemporary immersion are shaped by digitization and climate breakdown, leading to two main directions: creating simulations or experiences of re-entanglement with the wider world. The idea that the world is in front of us goes against human experience, but was created by a techno-cultural environment, with the central perspective and printing press as key elements. Digitization and climate change challenge this notion and the belief that the world is populated by passive objects.