Preposterous media: applicazioni umanitarie del VR cinema e pittura a lume di notte

How can the wearing of a virtual reality headset in the comfort of one’s own home be seen as having any ethical or political value in relation to catastrophic events overwhel-ming entire populations in different parts of the globe? To what extent do such devices have the capacity to facilitate spectators in developing a “witnessing gaze”? This article focuses on United Nations projects in virtual reality cinema that promise to enhance the spectator experience, thereby raising awareness of humanitarian operations. By proceeding along a “preposterous”, anachronistic, path a comparison is drawn between the compositional and experiential characteristics of virtual reality cinema and the tradition of “candlelit painting” which was introduced by Caravaggio and further de-veloped by the so-called Caravaggisti in the seventeenth century. In developing this cross-analysis, a few answers are suggested to the main questions regarding the viewer experience of humanitarian-themed virtual reality cinema