WorldWideWalks: mapping the 'mixed realities' of physical and virtual space-time

New media 'walk projects' raise critical questions about their 'walkabout' - the acquisition of knowledge through kinesthetic experience and the very different 'flyabout' - an experience, which allows human beings to fly in virtual space. Walking and flying characterise key aspects of actuality and reality. Insofar as the sense of reality begins with the body and its perceptual apparatus, the apparatus that interfaces with the body can both limit and expand the cognitive parameters of that passage. Outside the apparatus, arbitrary borders can shape meaning. For example, when crossing the International Dateline on a jet the traveller ruptures the calendar. Focusing on a series of walk art projects, this paper investigates how the parameters both inside and outside the apparatus shape the viewer-participant's identity.