Four years of research within the AN-ICON project, enriched by the generous contribution of numerous external scholars who have participated in the group's seminars and conferences, have both deepened and complexified our understanding of environmental images. Some of the leading conceptual tools of the project have undergone a critical transformation. This is particularly true of the notion of immersion. While an-iconicity is very often associated with the latter, some of its instances seem to be better captured by relying on the complementary notion of emersion. This is the case, for example, when we consider augmented reality as opposed to virtual reality: in the former, we do not immerse ourselves in an an-iconic world, but rather perceive that world as coming towards us. Emersion, one could say, is the other side of immersion. It is curious to note that the phonetics of the two terms are indistinguishable or almost so; in fact, according to the Oxford English Dictionary both the terms are to be pronounced /ɪˈməːʃən/. Other notions have been updated: transparency is no longer a universal goal among those who produce or experience an-icons; avatars are becoming more and more varied, so that embodiment can take on even radically different meanings; and so on. At the same time, multiple lines of inquiry have flourished within the project, working along its main axes but also expanding its original scope and goals. In this process, the history of environmental images crosses paths with the history of ideas and science; the study of professional uses of virtual or augmented reality requires a closer dialogue with disciplines such as psychology and digital forensics; while anicons proliferate in intimate dimensions of everyday life, as in the case of pornography, or even beyond life, as demonstrated by the emerging issues of so-called digital death. In the light of these developments, this seminar is dedicated to an in-depth and wide-ranging discussion among the members of AN-ICON, with the aim of sharing the individual progress of each researcher, providing mutual feedback and maximising the progress of the project towards its completion and further research horizons.

Four years of research within the AN-ICON project, enriched by the generous contribution of numerous external scholars who have participated in the group's seminars and conferences, have both deepened and complexified our understanding of environmental images. Some of the leading conceptual tools of the project have undergone a critical transformation. This is particularly true of the notion of immersion. While an-iconicity is very often associated with the latter, some of its instances seem to be better captured by relying on the complementary notion of emersion. This is the case, for example, when we consider augmented reality as opposed to virtual reality: in the former, we do not immerse ourselves in an an-iconic world, but rather perceive that world as coming towards us. Emersion, one could say, is the other side of immersion. It is curious to note that the phonetics of the two terms are indistinguishable or almost so; in fact, according to the Oxford English Dictionary both the terms are to be pronounced /ɪˈməːʃən/. Other notions have been updated: transparency is no longer a universal goal among those who produce or experience an-icons; avatars are becoming more and more varied, so that embodiment can take on even radically different meanings; and so on. At the same time, multiple lines of inquiry have flourished within the project, working along its main axes but also expanding its original scope and goals. In this process, the history of environmental images crosses paths with the history of ideas and science; the study of professional uses of virtual or augmented reality requires a closer dialogue with disciplines such as psychology and digital forensics; while anicons proliferate in intimate dimensions of everyday life, as in the case of pornography, or even beyond life, as demonstrated by the emerging issues of so-called digital death. In the light of these developments, this seminar is dedicated to an in-depth and wide-ranging discussion among the members of AN-ICON, with the aim of sharing the individual progress of each researcher, providing mutual feedback and maximising the progress of the project towards its completion and further research horizons.

Four years of research within the AN-ICON project, enriched by the generous contribution of numerous external scholars who have participated in the group's seminars and conferences, have both deepened and complexified our understanding of environmental images. Some of the leading conceptual tools of the project have undergone a critical transformation. This is particularly true of the notion of immersion. While an-iconicity is very often associated with the latter, some of its instances seem to be better captured by relying on the complementary notion of emersion. This is the case, for example, when we consider augmented reality as opposed to virtual reality: in the former, we do not immerse ourselves in an an-iconic world, but rather perceive that world as coming towards us. Emersion, one could say, is the other side of immersion. It is curious to note that the phonetics of the two terms are indistinguishable or almost so; in fact, according to the Oxford English Dictionary both the terms are to be pronounced /ɪˈməːʃən/. Other notions have been updated: transparency is no longer a universal goal among those who produce or experience an-icons; avatars are becoming more and more varied, so that embodiment can take on even radically different meanings; and so on. At the same time, multiple lines of inquiry have flourished within the project, working along its main axes but also expanding its original scope and goals. In this process, the history of environmental images crosses paths with the history of ideas and science; the study of professional uses of virtual or augmented reality requires a closer dialogue with disciplines such as psychology and digital forensics; while anicons proliferate in intimate dimensions of everyday life, as in the case of pornography, or even beyond life, as demonstrated by the emerging issues of so-called digital death. In the light of these developments, this seminar is dedicated to an in-depth and wide-ranging discussion among the members of AN-ICON, with the aim of sharing the individual progress of each researcher, providing mutual feedback and maximising the progress of the project towards its completion and further research horizons.