The aim of this article is to study (mainly but not only) literary works that “borrow” users/readers bodies in order to create immersive memory spaces, i.e. that engage haptic interactions with texts as the sine qua non of entering the narrated story-worlds. To depict the broader context authors characterize the general strategy of immersion based on haptic experience of the work (metaphorically described as “borrowing of the user’s body”), seen in various media and different forms of storytelling, from traditional literary second person narratives to VR/XR experiences. Then authors focus on two e-literary examples (WuWu&Co and Maginary) in order to analyse how the reader’s gestures or his/her whole body can be incorporated into the act of reading. The purpose of introducing aforementioned case-studies is to point out the importance of elaborating actual discussions on haptic poetics of e-literary works. The paper ends with a close reading of Pry (by Samantha Gorman and Danny Cannizzaro), the case study that provides a perfect example of “borrowing e-reader’s body” in order to immerse him/her in the memory space that is co-created by the protagonist’s memories and the reader’s gestures.

This paper offers a close reading of site-specific audio installation Data Urns (by Daniel Huber) and audio-walk Her Long Black Hair (by Janet Cardiff) in context of works created as corporeal and haptic experiences in different media. Used methodology is inspired by a new media and theatrical research as well as the traditional literary studies. Author uses category of dramatic monologue as a key to analyse literary aspects of characterized works and proposes the category of locative dramatic monologue as more useful in context of not-only-verbal immersive narratives. The goal of analysis (in which the category of haptic and exploratory reading is developed) can be also described as looking for possibilities of readapting traditional analytic tools in new (media) contexts as a way of postulated renewing of poetic of literary work.

This article analyses the case of Rafael Lozano-Hemmer’s project Atmospheric Memory (2019). Creating an object of (relational) architecture with elements of expanded reality (XR), the artist reaches also for the inspiration from the prehistory of technoculture. The idea of air as a “vast library”, proposed by Charles Babbage in 19th century is a starting point for reflections about modes of recording and representing verbal and spatial human interactions, as well as about so-called “cloud” and the question of memory. The latter issue leads to a spatial metaphor of memory palace or memory theater, not only applied for the purpose of mnemotechnics, but also taken as a conceptual prototype for virtual, immersive environments (Oliver Grau). Although Atmospheric Memory chamber does not offer a fully virtual immersion, but rather a mixed realities experience, it helps to see various relations between an individual and a (both private and public) dataspace. The artworks within the chamber are mostly interactive and responsive, focusing on various aspects of verbal communication and its inner contradictions. The memory as understood in this project is not only human-related, but also AI-related and cloud-based, so the project reveals some aspects of its mechanisms. Atmospheric Memory is discussed in theoretical context, with a few references to media art projects that share a common attitude regarding interactivity, virtuality and memory-bound issues.

The essay critically discusses the use of remote sensing technologies in contemporary media art and sciences. It undertakes a thorough analysis of Tropics, the award-winning work of the French artist Mathilde Lavenne. The artist used lidar scanning to visualize the stories and memories gathered from interviews with inhabitants of the Mexican town Jicaltepec, who are mostly descendants of the French settlers-colonizers. Through the use of apparatus designed for architectural and geodetic purposes, along with its scientific and commercial contexts, questions arise about the relations between modern technoculture, nature, cultural memory, and overlapping colonial logic, in knowledge production and the micropolitics of affects management.

The paper examines the phenomenon of retrogaming in the context of virtual reality. Author begins by introducing two categories of gaming nostalgia (homo- and hetero-medial) and argues that almost none of the existing VR experiences belong to the former category. In the next part of the paper, he applies two distinctions used by scholars to analyze nostalgia and discuss four case studies illustrating each of them. Author argues that in all of these cases the main focus of the developers concerns the external circumstances that the games of the past were played and not the games themselves (a factor that Mark P. Wolf called a “mode of exhibition”). He finishes the paper by discussing two problematic cases of retro VR experiences that do not fit the classification used previously. He argues that both of these cases simulate the mode of exhibition of contemporary retro practices.

In recent years, there has been an increased interest in the use of somatechnics as a part of the ideation in the design process. Even though extensive literature has been devoted to the issue of the embodied design and the possibility of a practical application of somatechnics, the problem of articulation of somatic experience remains marginalized and unresolved. This is not so much about theoretical considerations as about the possibility of developing description tools, or more broadly, a language of communication that would be useful both: researchers dealing with the description of the design process and designers themselves. This problem is particularly interesting in relation to developing trends related to the use of fun and participation in the design practice.

The aim of the article is therefore to describe the problem of articulation of somatic experience in the context of developing a language that can allow an effective and satisfactory translation of the initial idea of designing experience into its final effect. The emphasis is on designing experiences related to urban space. In the face of problems arising here (during the implementation process itself), the possibility of using the “language of movement” will be examined, according to the theory and practice of the Laban Bartenieff Movement System (LBMS). This system has hardly found a detailed description so far as one of the somatechnics that can be used as part of embodied design projects. The main issue is how to link motion observations and articulate the effects of these observations with strategies for embodied design in interactive environments. Considering that this system provides not only extensive conceptual equipment for describing and developing the language of movement but also visual tools derived from the Labanotation model, it is worth looking at this system in the context of its possible application as somatechnics in the design process, especially when it comes to experiences related to the use of urban spaces.

The aim of this article is to discuss the award-winning project by Illya Szilak and Cyril Tsiboulski – Queerskins: A Love Story (2018) that anchors virtual reality experience in a physical, interactive, immersive installation. The author will focus on both the virtual reality haptic experience for Oculus Rift with Touch controllers, as well as the experience of site specific installation, in order to examine visitors emotional and cognitive engagement with the story of semi-fictional protagonist Sebastian, young gay physician who died of AIDS. A theoretical framework for this analysis will be outlined, including the concept of kinesthetic empathy, as well as Sara Ahmed’s insights from Queer Phenomenology on the significance of the objects as signs of orientation.

This text focuses on the memory of media art. The case study of Reincarnation of Media Art WRO exhibition from 2019 – “a unique exhibition about preserving media art and making its essence available” – is introduced by the author to discuss the life-cycle of time-based media artworks. Aforementioned case study is used as the basis for further discussion about “permanence through change” approach in preserving media art.

Recent tendencies in theory aim at overcoming the Kantian conception of rationality, questioning identification of rationality with critique and the autonomy of thinking subject. Speculative realism attempts to eliminate the transcendental level of thinking that is constitutive for critique, by showing its inconsistency with the contingency of the world discovered through modern science. The development of neurobiology provides a perspective of reduction of the independent level of thinking to the neurobiological activity. Both demand a change in the concept of subjectivity and rationality. However, Catherine Malabou, in her book Being Tomorrow: Epigenesis and Rationality, claims that neither speculative realism nor neurobiology can provide a conception of “another rationality” sufficient for current demands. In counterpart to the philosophical atmosphere of the 21st century, Being Tomorrow urges us to construct a new paradigm of critical rationality not against Kant, but through a dialogue with his philosophy. This paper examines Malabou’s proposition of the “epigenetic paradigm of rationality”, which connects “epigenetic turn” in neurobiology with the interpretation of Critique of Judgement. Before presenting this paradigm, the article describes the context of the book: the importance of the transcendental for continental philosophy, the speculative realist critique of Kantian rationality and tensions between reductive neuroscience and humanities.

This paper focuses on arts responses to the first two months of COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Author presents examples of COVID-inspired/caused works in different fields (literature, film, interactive media, performance and visual arts), but the main problem analysed in the article is how the art that engages (“borrows”) its users bodies, especially the one that should be characterized in context of haptic aesthetic and participatory culture, can function in new, pandemic situation. Particular examples of COVID-inspired evolutions of existing projects (as Secret Sofa version of Secret Cinema) are described as augmented tableau vivant of pandemic times. Author reminds also the long tradition of interactive art dealing with problem of telepresence or joining remote locations, as well as the history of interactive art and performances that function only virtually (in the Internet/The Third Space) what permits to analyse actual, “pandemic” strategies of presenting the interactive art (as Home Delivery by Ars Electronica Center) in broader context.