A Study on Shamanistic Expression Method of Performances Using VR Technology: Body Ownership and Gaze

Virtual reality (VR) technology has been increasingly more frequently used day by day in industries, entertainment and performances due to the development of AR and MR technologies. Performance arts also actively utilize $360^{\circ}$ VR technology due to the free expression of stage settings and auditoriums. However, technologies for systems in which performers wear VR devices firsthand rather than being in the sandpoint of bystanders while audiences wear VR head mounted displays(HMDs) to see performance stages have been rarely studied yet. This study investigated the technical possibilities of possible methods of expression that will enable performers to appear on the stage wearing VR devices. Since VR can maximize the sense of immersion with its closed HMD structure unlike augmented reality (AR), VR was judged to be suitable for studies centered on the mental interactions in the inner side of humans. Among them, to implement shamanistic expression methods with the phantoms of the body and soul, a motion capture technology linked with VR display devices and real-time cameras was realized on the stage. In this process, the importance of body ownership experienced by the performers (participants), reactions when they lost it, and the mental phenomena of the desire to possess the subjects of gaze could be seen. In addition, high possibility of development of this technology hereafter could be expected because this technology includes the technical openness that enables the audience to appear on the stage firsthand to become performers.