“Merging realities: psychosocial happenings-a world on stage”

One of the virtues of our changing times is that new media has challenged us to rethink and reexamine our basic presumptions about reality and the reality that is virtually perceived. From the perspective of an electronic media artist, the author presents a body of work (case studies) of performative-like installations comprised of 3D structures integrating video imagery with the reality of the physical, psychological, virtual, and social worlds. These structures are instigators for enticing “social happenings” whereby participants and viewers become subjects from an observational perspective, providing a simulated clinical “case study”. With the influence of theoretical and scientific information in the constructs of mediated environments, perceptions of risk, danger trust, and self-identity are challenged. Using a metaphor to that of a “world on stage”, the works provide a visual, conceptual, and concrete model to illustrate progress from theory to practice