Presentation Schedule
A Bird Went in Search of the Cage: Immersive Storytelling and Counter Ideological Consciousness (107200)
Session Chair: Artur Ishkhanyan
Tuesday, 16 June 2026 10:50
Session: Session 1
Room: Room 114 (1F)
Presentation Type:Oral Presentation
Can political activists use new technology to resist political power? This research tested if immersive phenomenological engagement can generate critical consciousness of ideological positioning? Referencing Henri Lefebvre's spatial production theory with Louis Althusser's interpellation concept, the study asked: Can subjects recognize themselves as ideologically positioned through embodied immersive experience?
25 participants (13 Chinese, 12 others; aged 22-40) navigated an immersive Yellow Vest protest installation in UWTSD's visualization suite. Each chose roles as either family of protesters, journalists, or undercover police officers. The methodological innovation involved in-world phenomenological interviews conducted during immersion, capturing pre-reflective awareness before rationalization, coupled with theoretical debriefing connecting phenomenological experience to critical frameworks.
Findings demonstrate that immersive engagement coupled with reflexive scaffolding successfully generated consciousness unavailable through distanced observation alone. Participants experienced interpellation bodily (reporting nausea performing surveillance, chest tightness encountering barriers, camera-mediated distance as phenomenological barrier). Family seekers unexpectedly developed solidarity despite private motivations. Journalists recognized objectivity's ideological character through accumulated impossible neutrality. Undercover officers experienced surveillance's banality while 40% enacted resistance strategies. Chinese participants developed distinctive comparative consciousness shaped by lived political contexts.
Despite the research showing that ideological awareness was partial and context-dependent rather than totalizing, it did successfully challenge documentary orthodoxy that promotes critical distance. The research demonstrates how practice-based methods can phenomenologically investigate abstract theory, and reveals consciousness-raising as ongoing recognition of positioning within society. Participants despite remaining partly inside the cage, were able to witness the cage in practice.
Authors:
Timi O'Neill, University of Wales Trinity Saint David, United Kingdom
About the Presenter(s)
I am the programme director of a professional doctorate in art and design
See this presentation on the full schedule – Tuesday Schedule
Conference Comments & Feedback
Place a comment using your LinkedIn profileShare this Presentation
Comments
Powered by WP LinkPress