The Virtual Reality (VR) as a Configurable Space Theoretical Model Development of a Gamified Virtual Training Space for the Subject of Art

Abstract

In a post-digital approach to art education, the integration of innovative methods and technologies is central to contemporary educational strategies (Kultusministerkonferenz 2021). The development of a gamified training space in VR aims to empower art educators to effectively utilize the potential of these new media and incorporate them into their art education practices.
Based on the notion that a virtual world does not constitute a simulated reality but rather serves as a powerful counterpart that shapes an expanded societal reality through advanced information technologies (Banz und Bowinkel 2023), it seems particularly relevant for educators and learners to engage with highly immersive media.
Phenomenological insights into responsive corporeality must, in this context, be extended to include a post-digital dimension of physical experience and perception. As Hallmann emphasizes, the body is a central interface between real and virtual spaces – a medium for responsive human-machine interaction. The bodily adaptation to VR environments can be understood as an embodied learning process that expands the participants’ being-in-the-world (Hallmann 2021).
This contribution demonstrates how modes of aesthetic experience formation determine the reception and production of highly immersive reality, thereby existing in a reciprocal relationship. To meet the demands and opportunities of augmented reality, adequate extensions of pedagogical theories and didactic models are required (Feige 2022).