Immersion as category of audiovisual experience: From Long Beach to Hollywood

Immersion is a cognitive modality based on the sensation, whether arising from a real situation or induced by a virtual space, of finding oneself in an environment, whether real or virtual, and being part of it, of being immersed in it. In this essay the complexity of the category of immersion is investigated: it shows how it can take a multiplicity of forms. Two forms of immersion are investigated by analysing two contemporary works that represent different expressive forms, adopting opposing narrative strat gies, that were conceived with different aims and presuppose a completely different productive texture, even if they are very close both geographically and chronologically: The Ring, a horror film made in Hollywood in 2002 and Pneuma, an audiovisual installation made by Bill Viola „just down the road‟ in Long Beach in 2004. Thus, the existence of various forms of immersion are shown, with opposing modalities of action on the viewer‟s cognition, while remaining within a similar paradigm, i.e. multiple typologies of immersive spaces