Sanal gerçeklikte zamanı deneyimlemek

Abstract

Bu makalenin amacı, 21. yüzyılın sanat hareketi olarak nitelendirebileceğimiz dijital sanatların sunduğu görsel olasılıkların, özellikle de sanal gerçeklik teknolojisinin, bizi ne ölçüde farklı bir skopik rejime ve zaman kavramına doğru yönlendirebileceğini tartışmaktır. Bu bağlamda, ilk olarak Martin Jay’in Modernitenin skopik rejimleri olarak tanımladığı üç görsel alt kültür açıklandıktan sonra ikinci aşamada Fransız estetik kuramcısı Edmond Couchot’nun dijital sanatlara özgü geliştirdiği estetik kuram temel alınarak, dijital imge ve alımlama zamanı arasındaki ilişki üç farklı döneme özgü (Rönesans, mekanik üretim çağı ve dijital dönem) üç farklı imge mecrası (resim, televizyon/video ve dijital) üzerinden okunacaktır. Son aşamada ise zaman ve imge arasındaki ilişkiye bakış açımızın sanal gerçeklik teknolojisiyle üretilmiş sanat yapıtları aracılığıyla ne yönde değişime uğradığı, Fransız kuramcı Christine Buci-Glucksmann’ın Gilles Deleuze’ün kristal-imge/zaman kavramını yeni teknolojilere akış-imge/zaman olarak uyarladığı kavramı üzerinden sunulacaktır. Dijital teknolojilerle gelişen bu kültürü Neo-Barok olarak nitelendiren düşünür, Deleuze’ün kristal-imge/zamanından da akış-imge/zamana geçişin şart olduğunu vurgular. Buci-Glucksmann’ın böylece Martin Jay ve Edmond Couchot’nun vurguladığı yeni bir skopik rejim ve estetik kuram ihtiyacını akış-imge/zaman kavramıyla karşıladığı makalenin varsayımıdır. Kanadalı sanatçı Char Davies’in Osmose (1995) ve Ephémère (1998) adlı etkileşimli ve içine çeken sanal gerçeklik teknolojisiyle üretilmiş eserleri bu varsayımı desteklemek açısından örneklem olarak seçilmiştir.

This study aims to discuss to what extent the visual possibilities offered by the digital arts, which can be defined as the art movement of the twenty-first century, and especially by virtual reality technology, can lead us towards a different scopic regime and concept of time. To this end, first, the three visual subcultures that Martin Jay defines as scopic regimes of Modernity will be explained. Secondly, French aesthetician Edmond Couchot’s arguments on the relationship between the digital image and its perception time will be discussed following his theory concerning the three different eras (the Renaissance, age of mechanical production and digital age) and the three different media (oil painting, television/video, and digital). Thirdly, to what extent our conception concerning the relationship between time and image has been changed by digital artworks created with virtual reality technologies will be presented in the light of the French thinker Christine Buci-Glucksmann’s concept of the image/ time-flux, that she developed through the time/image-crystal concept of Gilles Deleuze. Since she describes this new culture based on digital technologies as Neo-baroque, Buci-Glucksmann considers it imperative to change Deleuze’s image/time-crystal to an image/time-flux. Therefore, Buci-Glucksmann introduces a new scopic regime and its aesthetic theory with the image/time-flux that Martin Jay and Edmond Couchot insisted on for its necessity, which is the hypothesis of this study. Canadian digital artist Char Davies’ interactive and immersive virtual realitu artworks Osmose (1995) and Ephémère (1998) are analyzed to support the hypothesis. Gilles Deleuze and Edmond Couchot are known in the French media literature, for their inquiries on the spatial and temporal dimensions of digital technologies. By shedding light on the consideration of similar issues around different concepts, and from different aspects, they both contributed to the formation of a digital image theory. On the other hand, Martin Jay, who is considered an expert in the field of French philosophy, completes these two French theorists by expressing spatial change in the perception process, especially in his article The Scopic Regimes of Modernity (2012), though he does not directly refer to the time theories of Deleuze and Couchot. In addition, in the same article, Martin Jay states that he named the Baroque scopic regime after the French theorist Buci-Glucksmann. Therefore, a number of clarifications of Buci-Glucksmann’s views in this article were inevitable. In addition to that reference by Martin Jay, Buci-Glucksmann presents the concept of flow-image which is defined after Deleuze’s concept of the image/time-crystal. Interactive and immersive digital artworks, due to their physical, technical, and material dimensions, do not have the opportunity to meet the audience as easily and as often as a video installation. Therefore, as the audience, we do not often come across works of artists such as Char Davies. The reason that Canadian artist Char Davies’s works, entitled Osmose (1995) and Ephémère (1998), are chosen as examples to clarify the image theories is that they are accessible by online visuals and written materials for many readers who would wish to visualize the mentioned experience. Lastly, while the works of Gilles Deleuze and Martin Jay have met with quite a large audience interested in the philosophy of art and media in Turkey, the theories of Edmond Couchot and Christine Buci-Glucksmann are little known in Turkish academia. In this sense, the article contributes to the presentation of these two French theorists, whose works adopt the views of previous thinkers to a more contemporary digital image theory.