'Vergeet je vlees': Lichamelijkheid en virtualiteit in de VR-poëzie van Micha Hamel en Demian Albers

Recent years saw the development of VR-poetry as a subset of electronic literature and VR-art. This article examines the interplay between estrangement and immersion in two Dutch-language VR-poems by poet Micha Hamel and developer Demian Albers. To explore how the lyrical mode intersects with the embodied and virtual affordances of VR-technology, we draw on Jonathan Culler’s theory on the lyrical ‘triangulated address.’ We discuss how this theory helps us to analyse the self-reflexive strategies used in these VR-poems, as well as the self-reflexive potential of VR-poetry. Given the inherently embodied nature of VR-technology, we argue that VR-poetry opens up new possibilities for reconsidering the embodied dimensions of the lyric genre.