ABSTRACT
The hypersurface is where the real and the virtual meet each other. It is materiality and textuality, real and representation. It is also the site of virtual performance. Through the hypersurface, the viewer can enter the work of art, be part of it, as well as interact with it. Because the hypersurface is a liminal space, the viewer can double their presence and be in both the real and the virtual environment simultaneously. In other words, the viewer may be part of both the realm of the image and the sphere of the real, and may modify one through the other. In performing through the hypersurface, the viewer enters the world of simulation while maintaining a direct rapport with their own environment. The theatre of the hypersurface is not immersive but it simulates immersiveness. As the multiplicity of perspectives generated by the encounter of the real and the virtual becomes apparent, the viewer may experience and experiment with them – being both present in the work and verfremdet estranged from it. In this sense, the hypersurface is the theatre par excellence – a hyper-sur-face, a space twice removed from the ‘face’; in other words, a place twice above or beyond the world of appearance.
