No hands: (Dis)embodied avatars and reflexivity in Dutch VR-poetry

Abstract

As has been expressed by various scholars on digital literature (Fülöp 2021, Baetens e.a. 2019, Bell 2010), reflexivity in digital literature differs from reflexivity in non-digital media, as digital literary output capitalizes on the medium’s simulated and virtual processes. This paper explores how VR-poetry uses specific poetic and intermedial strategies to reflect creatively and critically on its technological conditions and the ideological conceptions of the body that are entwined with it. In particular, the paper will analyze how (dis)embodied aspects of the avatar are evoked and challenged self-reflexively in the VR-poetry of Dutch poet and composer Micha Hamel and his artistic collaborator Demian Albers.