Dena Elisabeth Eber

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Most Recent Affiliation:


  • Bowling Green State University, Digital Arts, Professor

Location:


  • Bowling Green, Ohio, United States of America

Website:


Bio:

  • For her Ph.D. research, Dr. Eber explored the art and aesthetics of artistic virtual environments (VE), especially the learning and creative process for artists involved with making them. Her MFA research included alternative ways of digital image capture and representation.

    Dr. Eber continues to research the creative and aesthetic aspects of artistic VEs and is currently involved with an art and computer science collaboration that is investigating these questions. Her other research includes perception and the creative process surrounding other digital media. She has presented much of this work at national and international conferences and has many publications in national and international journals.

    Dr. Eber’s artistic endeavors include VE art works, imaging, and interactive installations. Her latest work deals with issues surrounding embodiment and femininity. She shows her work at numerous national and regional exhibitions.

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Writings and Presentations:


  • Title: Virtual Imaginations Require Real Bodies
    Writing Type: Essay
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    Exhibition: SIGGRAPH 1999: technOasis
    Abstract Summary:

    Virtual reality (VR) works of art conjure up ideas such as virtual sex, virtual frontiers, and to some, disembodiment. Those who uphold the notion of disembodiment claim that works of art that embrace VR technology necessarily encourage a state that affirms the Cartesian duality in which people can leave Earth, nature, and body behind. I counter this notion because I do not believe that the mind can be separated from the body; rather, the two are inexplicably intertwined.

    Although this “Gibsonesque” scenario is rich with metaphors and metaphysical implications, I suggest that any virtual space is an embodied experience because the imagination of the artist and the viewer refer back to the body, to nature, and to the Earth. From the physical reality of Earth and our bodies, we may understand and perceive many more realities, perhaps facilitated by virtual space art installations. In fact, I maintain that even the virtual is real. It is a perception that is a real experience, which makes reference to our encounters with the physical world and our flesh.

    [Download PDF]

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