In 2022, I co-founded and co-organized the inaugural Performance and Virtual Reality (VR) Working Group at the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) with Dr. Katherine Mezur (UC Berkley). We are joined in subsequent years by Prof. Laura Hyunjhee Kim (UT Dallas) in 2023, Prof. Walter Byongsok Chon (Ithaca College) in 2024, and Prof. Peter Eckersall (The Graduate Center, CUNY) in 2025 as co-conveners. We curated the working group as a laboratory to foster discussions about virtual/ immersive technologies, theatre, and performance. We sought experimental and daring research and practices from scholar-artists delving into the potential of VR as well as the possibilities of theatrical and performative interventions into current VR discourses. The group functions as an ongoing, sustainable platform for critical exchange and is developing an edited volume or special journal issue on performance and virtual reality. As reflected in the theme of each year, we are interested in exploring the intersection of VR, performance, and the concept of the “wild.” Expand the details below for each year’s conference themes and include a brief summary of the corresponding calls for papers.
Degenerative Times and Generative Places (2025) – Denver | Virtual Session
In times of crisis, can virtual reality (VR) and immersive media navigate the terrains of trauma, history, and collective memory? There is a need to critique the market-driven, “sleek” fantasy of VR. Our group will rethink VR technology through multiple modalities that address the complexities of times and places, inviting capacious frameworks from diverse fields such as religion, healthcare, migration studies, militarism, and beyond. Among the questions we will field together are: What are generative elements in VR, how do they emerge, and what processes shape their development? What elements are refused, left behind, or allowed to decay in the process of creation? How might these acts of degeneration inform or critique the generative processes they accompany? Rather than viewing generative and degenerative as opposing dichotomies, we invite research into how generation and degeneration might coexist and shape each other. Participants may approach VR through a critique of the industry and technology; historical and philosophical perspectives on “virtual reality”; or a specific VR case study ranging from video games and music videos to dance, media art, medical applications, pornography, pedagogy, and religious practices.
Kyueun Kim 