시선 기반 인터페이스의 존재론적 불투명성: MIT Media Lab의 《Measuring the Magic of Mutual Gaze》를 중심으로 = Ontological Opacity of Gaze-Based Interfaces: Focusing on Measuring the Magic of Mutual Gaze by the MIT Media Lab

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

This paper focuses on the concept of “ontological opacity” within gaze-based interfaces, using the MIT Media Lab’s interactive work Measuring the Magic of Mutual Gaze as its central case study. While previous discussions of gaze-based interfaces have primarily emphasized immersion, real-time interactivity, and affective feedback, this study addresses a deeper philosophical problem: technology not only mediates users’ sensory experiences but also conceals or modulates their authenticity.
Grounded in Don Ihde’s postphenomenological theory─particularly his concepts of embodiment/interpretation relations and the multistability of technologies─this paper analyzes how the triadic relationship among technology, sensation, and being inevitably involves ambiguity and discontinuity. Expanding on the media transparency debates by Bolter and Grusin, this study critically examines their notions of immediacy and hypermediacy, arguing that these concepts remain limited to the level of media perception. Instead, through the framework of ontological opacity, it highlights how technological mediation introduces delays and gaps into the very immediacy of being—the direct and instantaneous recognition of existence itself.
By adopting Ihde’s philosophy of technology as its theoretical foundation, the paper demonstrates that technology functions not merely as a neutral tool for transmitting sensory information but as an active agent that reorganizes modes of existence. Consequently, the experience of gaze becomes both technologically amplified and simultaneously filtered or deferred in its encounter with alterity. Through this exploration, the study proposes a new philosophical framework for understanding the sensory-technological configuration in interactive and transmedia art.