Transformations in the terms of ‘observers’ and ‘representations’ rooted in the ‘seeing’ nature of visuality and cultural established meanings constantly reconfigure the co-existence of optical occupation and mental inhabits, which we arguably refer to the epistemology of immersion in this article. This paper analyzes and compares the historical evolution and significance of two primary visual reorganizations in immersive art based on cultural geography–the Chinese aesthetics concept wòyóu 臥遊 (spiritual wandering while reclining) across the tradition of literati art and religious sites–from the material reality to the spiritual domain–and the European panoramas–from the rationalized space of Renaissance to the bodily immersion of spectacles in the 19th century. By outlining the pictorial features, architectural structures, and the observing techniques that converge to create the art of immersion, we simultaneously address the textual intentions within their cultural background. The methodology of this comparative study is scaffolded on an integration of the art historical formal analysis into the cohesive socio-cultural contexts. Relatively familiar configurations in the comparative study urge us to rethink the research on spontaneous visual convergence: the evolution of immersive art was affected not only by general social development but also by their mutual influence.
Li et al. (Wed,) studied this question.