The Unique Aesthetic Experience of VR Technology

Abstract

VR as an emerging medium holds potential as a new visual form that has applications in diverse fields including but not limited to educational, artistic, or entertainment. New elements of presence, immersion, and interactivity characterize a completely new aesthetic experience for its users, which will be explored in this paper. Aesthetic experience is defined to be the experience that differs from everyday life, in which psychological focuses are completely on the subject at hand. Different aspects of the aesthetic experience include: fascination, or the user’s attention analyzed through lenses of physical and psychological; appraisal, or the cognition of the narrative story and compositional elements within VR works; and creativity, or the user’s ability to interact and create within virtual worlds. Through research and cumulation, this paper will conclude and create a holistic view of the future of VR and the aesthetic experience.