ARIA: Alice Bucknell: All the world's polygons

This lecture by Alice Bucknell was part of ARIA's Worlds’ End Symposium held in Museum of Modern Art Ljubljana on 17 & 18 August.
The talk explores the history and futures of simulation in gaming, the bleed between entertainment and climate forecasting, and the paradox of predictive technologies in foreclosing other possible futures. From Stockholm, a team of 250 roams the Earth's surface with portable scanners, making good on their promise to "capture the whole world". In Wyoming, a supercomputer runs simulations with a gaming company's digital Earth twin to determine whether solar geoengineering is a good idea. In Taiwan, a gamer leaves their stream running as typhoon winds pick up IRL and in the world of GTA VI. Taking place inside a game engine, All the world's polygons anticipates the darker drive of perfect simulation while considering the affective capacities of the game engine as an animate ecosystem, one that's capable of generating new ways of being in the world.
Listen to Q&A following the lecture: / psnzmby2zwd1lvov8
Alice Bucknell is an artist and writer based in Los Angeles. Their recent work has focused on creating cinematic universes within game worlds, exploring the affective dimensions of video games as interfaces for understanding complex systems, relations and forms of knowledge. More on: alicebucknell.com
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ARIA - Algo-Rhythmic Ideation Assembly is a summer school that hybridizes art, education, and theory through immersive (role)play. Each edition features two residencies, a public symposium and related events, closed-door workshops and also a real-game play created by Omsk Social Club.
Learn more: www.sum.si/pro...
and projekt-atol.s...
ARIA was developed and curated by Tjaša Pogačar and Brandon Rosenbluth.
Production: Projekt Atol Institute (Lara Mejač and Uroš Veber)
In collaboration with: Šum journal (Društvo Galerija Boks)
Co-Production: Museum of Modern Art Ljubljana, International Centre of Graphic Arts Ljubljana (MGLC)
Visual design 2024: Nicola Tirabasso
Video documentation and montage: Jan Drozg
ARIA is part of More-than-Planet project, co-funded by the European Union as part of the Creative Europe framework and supported by the Ministry of Public Administration of the Republic of Slovenia, the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the City of Ljubljana.