The Water Is Always Running: Vaporwave, Fluxus, And The Role Of Defamiliarization In Music-Led Virtual Realities

This thesis examines how a Fluxus approach to participatory music can leverage environmental metaphors and affordances, heighten user awareness of their interactions through a making-strange approach to musical interaction, and balance functional and creative user experiences in a meaningful and participatory musical interaction. This research has been conducted using the virtual reality experience The Water Is Always Running. This work presents an unusual music-making environment, a 3D kitchen with dishwashing simulation, to explore how a making-strange approach to musical interaction and participation can heighten the awareness of process for the user. To create this work, ideas have been leveraged from acoustic ecology, vaporwave, virtual reality musical instrument design, and human-centered design