Reframing immersive environments through the templum : An archaeology of the frame

Contemporary immersive environments perceived through head-mounted displays allow us to access a 360° visual field, in a space that is described as being frameless since it is not bounded by the segregation imposed so far by the limits of the image. Thereby, according to the general consensus, the dispositive of the frame seems to be a relic of the past, likely to survive in the old media and in art heritage. Yet, as the process that yields the image – shaping information into an apprehensible form – framing is crucial to all contemporary media as well as art practices. In this article, I intend to turn around the idea that the frame is meant to disappear, and rather focus on the necessity to discuss our way to conceive the limit and opening of the image threshold. I will develop this direction of research in a media-archaeological perspective by investigating a pre-modern figure of the frame: the templum of Roman divination and especially ornithomancy, as it can allows us to elaborate a different conception of the frame, able to cope with the multiple challenges raised by virtual reality.