Tobey Crockett PhD ~ Illuminating the Mystery
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virtual worlds
I am very interested in robot and avatar rights and what I call the 'camera' as camera: that every part of digital space is an active agent and author, which requires new theorization of the subjects that are native to cyberspace. I still lecture on this topic and have been a guest teacher a number of times at the School of Visual Arts in New York and at Art Center in Pasadena.
How did I get here from art history? I knew early on that I wanted to develop critical theory for digital media, and understand what makes digital media distinct from all the other media that have preceded it. In 1999, I was fortunate to receive some private grant money to attend the new Critical Theory program at the Art Center College of Design, and happily met my mentor Dr. Michael Heim, who was working on a similar project in 3D virtual worlds.
After completing my masters degree at Art Center, I continued my research briefly at Cal Arts and then was awarded a diversity fellowship for the Doctoral Program in Visual Studies at UC Irvine. Using 3D virtual worlds in special effects as case studies, I completed my dissertation in 2006.
Writing
Papers are listed below. Some of my published writing in the field includes:
"The 'Camera' as Camera: How CGI Changes the World As We Know It" in Cinephilia in the Age of Digital Reproduction: Film, Pleasure, and Digital Culture Volume 1. Eds. Scott Balzerak and Jason Sperb. From Wallflower Press, UK. 2009. Now available from Amazon
“An Aesthetics of Play, Or How To Understand Interactive Fun” in Mapa do Jogo – relevância cultural dos games, edited by Lucia Santaella and Mirna Feitoza Pereira. Cengage Publishing, Sao Paulo Brazil. 2009.
"The Computer As A Dollhouse (excerpts)" in Video Games and Art
Eds. Andy Clarke and Grethe Mitchell. University of Chicago Press. 2007 Available on Amazon.
Copies of my 2006 PhD Dissertation "The 'Camera' As Camera: New Subjectivities in 3D Virtual Worlds" are available in both print or as an affordable download from Lulu.com
See my 2004 Intelligent Agent essay on building architecture and ritual into virtual environments.
Video of TCWF
Please see this mini documentary on YouTube about my own 3D virtual world which I built and developed from 2000-2007.
Papers
I frequently used my world TCWF as an alternate to PowerPoint as most academics were unfamiliar with virtual worlds and this allowed me to show and tell with great impact. Papers included:
“The ‘Camera’ as Camera and Its Global Implications for Indigenous Cinema” at the Indigenous Film and Media in an International Context conference,Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario in 2007.
“The Camera As Camera: How CGI Changes the World As We Know It” at the “Society for Cinema and Media Studies”, Vancouver Canada in 2006.
“An Aesthetics of Play, Or How To Understand Interactive Fun” for the “Refresh! First International Conference on The Histories of Media Art, Science and Technology”, Banff New Media Institute, Banff in 2005.
“Building A Bridge To The Aesthetic Experience: Artistic Virtual Environments and Other Interactive Digital Art” at a panel at Siggraph 2004, 31st International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, Los Angeles in 2004.
"Digital Revolution or Business As Usual?" for the discussion I organized, “The DMCA And You - a Roundtable Discussion on the High Stakes Game of Copyright, Principle and Intellectual Property In the Age of Digital Reproduction”, University of California, Irvine in 2003.
"Virtual Resistance" at UCI's Life By Design: Everyday Digital Culture conference, graduate symposium and exhibition. for which I was the conference organizer in 2003.
"Freud’s Secondary Revision and the Aesthetics of Digital Authorship" for the Western Humanities Alliance 24th Annual Conference, UC Irvine in 2002.
"Fun, Love & Happiness – An Aesthetics of Play and Empathy In Avatar Worlds” at Siggraph's 29th annual Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, San Antonio in 2002.
"The Computer As A Dollhouse: The Seriousness of Virtual Play in Avatar Worlds" for the UCLA Digital Cultures Conference, University of California, 2002.
“TCWF as Self-Portrait” at the exhibition “IMmediate Distance”, California Institute for The Arts, Valencia in 2000.
"I'd Rather Be in Avatar: An Analysis of Virtual Worlds" for the 14th Annual National Conference on Liberal Arts, School of Visual Arts, New York in 1998.
Screengrab from my lecture on "Virtual Resistance" 2003.
Screengrab from my talk "Digital Revolution or Business As Usual?" 2003.
art crticism lectures
How did I get here from art history? I knew early on that I wanted to develop critical theory for digital media, and understand what makes digital media distinct from all the other media that have preceded it. In 1999, I was fortunate to receive some private grant money to attend the new Critical Theory program at the Art Center College of Design, and happily met my mentor Dr. Michael Heim, who was working on a similar project in 3D virtual worlds.
After completing my masters degree at Art Center, I continued my research briefly at Cal Arts and then was awarded a diversity fellowship for the Doctoral Program in Visual Studies at UC Irvine. Using 3D virtual worlds in special effects as case studies, I completed my dissertation in 2006.
Writing
Papers are listed below. Some of my published writing in the field includes:
"The 'Camera' as Camera: How CGI Changes the World As We Know It" in Cinephilia in the Age of Digital Reproduction: Film, Pleasure, and Digital Culture Volume 1. Eds. Scott Balzerak and Jason Sperb. From Wallflower Press, UK. 2009. Now available from Amazon
“An Aesthetics of Play, Or How To Understand Interactive Fun” in Mapa do Jogo – relevância cultural dos games, edited by Lucia Santaella and Mirna Feitoza Pereira. Cengage Publishing, Sao Paulo Brazil. 2009.
"The Computer As A Dollhouse (excerpts)" in Video Games and Art
Eds. Andy Clarke and Grethe Mitchell. University of Chicago Press. 2007 Available on Amazon.
Copies of my 2006 PhD Dissertation "The 'Camera' As Camera: New Subjectivities in 3D Virtual Worlds" are available in both print or as an affordable download from Lulu.com
See my 2004 Intelligent Agent essay on building architecture and ritual into virtual environments.
Video of TCWF
Please see this mini documentary on YouTube about my own 3D virtual world which I built and developed from 2000-2007.
Papers
I frequently used my world TCWF as an alternate to PowerPoint as most academics were unfamiliar with virtual worlds and this allowed me to show and tell with great impact. Papers included:
“The ‘Camera’ as Camera and Its Global Implications for Indigenous Cinema” at the Indigenous Film and Media in an International Context conference,Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Ontario in 2007.
“The Camera As Camera: How CGI Changes the World As We Know It” at the “Society for Cinema and Media Studies”, Vancouver Canada in 2006.
“An Aesthetics of Play, Or How To Understand Interactive Fun” for the “Refresh! First International Conference on The Histories of Media Art, Science and Technology”, Banff New Media Institute, Banff in 2005.
“Building A Bridge To The Aesthetic Experience: Artistic Virtual Environments and Other Interactive Digital Art” at a panel at Siggraph 2004, 31st International Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, Los Angeles in 2004.
"Digital Revolution or Business As Usual?" for the discussion I organized, “The DMCA And You - a Roundtable Discussion on the High Stakes Game of Copyright, Principle and Intellectual Property In the Age of Digital Reproduction”, University of California, Irvine in 2003.
"Virtual Resistance" at UCI's Life By Design: Everyday Digital Culture conference, graduate symposium and exhibition. for which I was the conference organizer in 2003.
"Freud’s Secondary Revision and the Aesthetics of Digital Authorship" for the Western Humanities Alliance 24th Annual Conference, UC Irvine in 2002.
"Fun, Love & Happiness – An Aesthetics of Play and Empathy In Avatar Worlds” at Siggraph's 29th annual Conference on Computer Graphics and Interactive Techniques, San Antonio in 2002.
"The Computer As A Dollhouse: The Seriousness of Virtual Play in Avatar Worlds" for the UCLA Digital Cultures Conference, University of California, 2002.
“TCWF as Self-Portrait” at the exhibition “IMmediate Distance”, California Institute for The Arts, Valencia in 2000.
"I'd Rather Be in Avatar: An Analysis of Virtual Worlds" for the 14th Annual National Conference on Liberal Arts, School of Visual Arts, New York in 1998.
Screengrab from my lecture on "Virtual Resistance" 2003.
Screengrab from my talk "Digital Revolution or Business As Usual?" 2003.
art crticism lectures