Parallax Relax: Expanded Stereoscopy

In recent years, stereoscopic films, virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have matured and proliferated. This newly-emerging stereoscopic status quo operates within the same principles set out at the beginning of the technology: stereoscopy produces 3D depth- perception from the stereoscopic fusion of left and right images. Yet, beyond the normative practice of emulating human vision, stereoscopy can be leveraged to offer new perceptions and aesthetics.
While phenomena such as binocular rivalry are well researched within cognitive neuroscience and psychophysics, their artistic potential remains largely untapped. Artists such as Salvador Dali, Memo Akten and Blake Williams are among the few who have explored this territory. We propose the term expanded stereoscopy to describe stereoscopic processes which create spaces where depth relations are disjointed and paradoxical, where binocular rivalry is used to create unique visual effects or to guide viewer attention, or where new dimensionality and visual intensity are excavated from flat source material. Such expanded, technologically-aided uses of stereoscopy allow for ways of seeing that are impossible in the real world and can be seen as a true expansion of the senses.
Parallax Relax presents a discussion of some of the challenges and findings of our ongoing arts-based research into expanded stereoscopy, across the fields of single-screen projection, audio-visual live performance, and 360-degree immersive media, which began with the creation of III=III for Animamix Biennale 2015-16.