ACTUAL AND VIRTUAL SPACE _
Besides the existential relationship with the human being, the space, as seen before, can be comprehended on different levels depending on the kind of approach and/or experience realized within it. The work of art, as a real object inscribed in space and time, is IN the world and creates a particular spatiality with its own space and time, perceived by sensory experiences. [Ryan 2001, 42]
In her book Narrative as Virtual Reality, [2001] Marie-Laure Ryan employs the terms ‘actual’ and ‘virtual’ space to explain the differences between created sites and spaces generated in the mind of those who are experiencing them. With this differentiation in mind it is clear that the artwork modifies the space with a purpose, and thus guides the experience of it, and that there are new perceptions triggered by the composed piece that cannot be controlled. They happen in the mind, in the inner-space, which this investigation names virtual. The representations, or artworks, are placed in a certain existent site, a place where people develop actions [lived-space], the one that everybody can see, which here is considered actual. In the optical use of the term, ‘virtual’ becomes fictive and nonexistent, but using the term ‘virtual’ as ‘potential’ creates a sense of place, even though it does not exist physically. The environment projection is ‘fake’ but the physical interactivity with it is direct and ‘actual’, generating particular sensations in each experience. [Ryan 1999, 88] The virtual is not non-existent, but something which possesses the potential, or force, to develop into actual existence. [Ryan 2001, 27]
The manipulation of memory in order to create an artwork can activate diverse virtual spaces. These are produced by many forms of sensations which can or cannot be directly related to the piece itself. These virtual spaces can generate a sense of belonging, a sense of existence. They are by no means the opposite of the real. “On the contrary, it is a fecund and powerful mode of being that expands the process of creation, opens up the future, injects a core of meaning beneath the platitude of immediate physical presence.” [Lévy 1998, 16]
At this level it can be said that the experience of an intentionally modified actual space creates virtual spaces for people to consider their relationship with space. Thus, it is necessary to understand and build intentions in an attempt to explore the origin of the object at the very centre of the act of experiencing it. [Ryan 2001, 42]