Immersja. Studium antropologii obrazu

From the perspective of cultural anthropology, immersion is a psychosocial phenomenon consisting in absorbing consciousness of a viewer completely fascinated by a perceived message. Deceptive impression of communing with reality is a psychosomatic illusion offered as a standard by digital extensions: the internet communications, computer animation, artificial world of video games of various kinds, as well as films of the new and the latest generation. Extension transference (a term used by Edward T. Hall) is nothing new. However, constantly expanding macro-social scale of this process is something new. As a result, the growing effects of contemporary digital extension transference from the 2.0 cyberspace became, as never recorded before, widespread and massive. Today’s societies experience one of its most dangerous effects which turns out to be snowballing immersion. Immersion considered in a comprehensive manner in the light of: communication theory, semiotics and cultural anthropology opens a new field of research not only on the characteristics of artistic works (resp. the art of moving images), but also all categories of audiovisual works. Studying this phenomenon, which is now more and more common among the information age societies, enormously expands the “space of theory” and the scope of communication potential of non-verbal categories of languages, to start with the language of moving images. In an analysis of this phenomenon Marek Hendrykowski advocates linguistic and cultural orientation in the study on complex mechanisms of immersive disorders, emphasizing not only the individual (referring to the life of the individual), but also the social effects of digital frene.