Frictional Realities: Enabling Immersion in Mixed-Reality Performances

This paper presents a case study of a Mixed-Reality Performance employing 360-degree video for a virtual reality experience. We repurpose the notions of friction to illustrate the different threads at which priming is enacted during the performance to create an immersive audience experience. We look at aspects of friction between the different layers of the Mixed-Reality Performance, namely: temporal friction, friction between the physical and virtual presence of the audience, and friction between realities. We argue that Mixed-Reality Performances that employ immersive technology, do not need to rely on its presumed immersive nature to make the performance an engaging or coherent experience. Immersion, in such performances, emerges from the audience' transition towards a more active role, and the creation of various fictional realities through frictions.