July, 2016

It Takes Guts

When you first see him, Clark looks like your typical 23-year-old English Literature student at McGill University (which is to say ‘bespectacled and bearded’). He is quick to tell you about an exciting new book, or share his thoughts about some of the more colourful characters of the NBA. He’s tall,…

Escaping Our Reality

This past month has been one of violence and extraordinary tension. I spend a lot of time listening to NPR during my commute, and of the five big stories in the last two weeks, four involved shootings. Yet one story to make it on the list was the release of Pokémon…

Reconfiguring Consciousness: the Art of Virtual Reality

From the neoclassical sculptors, who strove to carve the image of physical perfection from smooth white marble slabs, to the first filmmakers, who transported their viewers to other realms through the moving image, it seems that for artists, the medium has always been inextricably linked to the message. This message…

Sines and Simulations: Can Music be Used to Augment Reality?

It’s been said and done, virtual reality have been discussed for countless perspectives for over a decade. With the rise of new platforms and musical forms, unprecedented tendencies have emerged through the social media traffic jam that make us wonder about what is virtual and what is real. What is…

War Games: Virtual Reality’s Bloody New Frontier

Technology has been one of the most decisive factors in the rise and fall of civilizations, in our battles against nature and against one another, since the dawn of humanity. The connecting thread between society in the twenty-first century and those of our ancient forefathers is the software which makes…

Réalités virtuelle et augmentée: les obstacles

Au Consumer Electronics Show (CES) de cette année, où manufacturiers et acteurs de l’électronique présentent leurs produits pour l’année à venir, le monde de la réalité augmentée (RA) et de la réalité virtuelle (RV) semblait en ébullition. L’offre se diversifie, tant du côté RV, avec les produits Oculus et le…

Performance of the Self in the Digital Age

Once archived, identity becomes a commodity; a good to be sold and bought. The pre-set digital architecture of user interfaces creates binaries, which forcibly guide the actions of the user. While the page view is set up in a uniform and predetermined fashion, it can also be specified on an…

Redefining Experiences: the Implications of Augmented Reality

If a tree falls in the forest, and nobody is around to hear it, does it make a sound?   You’ve most likely heard this age-old riddle before. The key to understanding it is recognizing the fundamental question at its core- i.e, “is existence itself defined by the presence of…

The Virtual Creation of a Modern Monster

Frankenstein is one of my favourite books. On first read, I was struck by its dark undertones, romantic prose, and its thematic concerns with the dangers of obsession- embodied by the titular scientist’s fated attempt at playing God. I consider myself a person of science, someone who has wholeheartedly embraced…