The Pervasive and the Digital: Immersive Worlds in Blast Theory's ‘A Machine to See With' and Dennis Del Favero's ‘Scenario'

This paper discusses two immersive story worlds between two distinct interactive artworks. Blast Theory's A Machine to See With (2010) is a pervasive fictional experience that enables users, through the technology of their mobile phone, to become immersed within a fictional crime scenario across a real geographical setting. Dennis Del Favero's art project, Scenario (2011), by contrast, is an interactive and immersive story that takes place in a 360-degree digital cinematic space called an AVIE (Advanced Visualization and Interaction Environment). This immersive world is a mixed reality environment, a meeting place where five real users and ten digital screen characters converge and interact through the technology of motion sensing. Participants are virtually wired into the immersive world through the performance of their movement. This paper will explore both of these artworks through original interviews the author has conducted with each of the artists.