Perspectives is the last chapter in Oliver Grau’s book Virtual Art – From Illusion to Immersion. In the chapter, the author summarizes his thoughts on the development of illusion media through the history of art, which is a continuous process driven by interest in both virtuality and the illusionistic effects of the image. Immersion arises when the artwork, the technological medium, the message and the mediator connect to form an inseparable whole at the level of perception in order to intensify the transmitted message or illusion. In this way, the medium becomes invisible. The modern digital tools that are used to create a virtual space (virtual reality) are moving towards achieving a polysensory experience. The process of eliminating the distance between the viewer and the image space is intensified through the use of virtual reality parameters such as interactivity and the presence of artificial creatures (avatars), which enable the mapping of the viewer’s body into the image space (the projection of physical body into the optical). The incorporation of viewers into artificial bodies, even though they are merely images, enables the extension of the sensual-cognitive experience and the experience of evocative phenomena that affect our consciousness. Contemporary audiovisual media, computers, and telecommunication technologies are converging to form a polysensory and virtual hypermedium, which is altering both the cultural history of our sensory apparatus and the dynamics of virtual image spaces.
