Emissary from the Squat of the Gods - Ian Cheng
Emissary from the Squat of the Gods is a digital video installation by Ian Cheng that was shown at the Hirschhorn museum in Washington DC as part of the “Suspended Animation” show. Cheng’s work utilizes complex computer agent-modeling (such as is used to predict urban planning effects or political outcomes) to produce never-ending, procedural simulations. These simulation-stories, such as the fate of a far-past village at the precarious edge of an imminently-exploding active volcano in the case of Emissary…, are displayed as multichannel 3-D animations on the gallery walls. Various characters in the tribe have different motivations, different desired outcomes, different interpretations of their own myths, and different capabilities to influence each other, so viewers watch this expansive field of interactions happen in real time. By building up an environment rich with myth and symbol, but which is clearly a virtual space produced through laborious sophisticated mathematical modeling, Cheng utilizes the computer’s power to pry at both our understanding of agency, storytelling, and also fundamental questions of authorship and intention in the production of art.
Artist: Ian Cheng
Link: http://emissaries.live/
Connections:
Italo Calvino - The Castle of Crossed Destinies
Ursula K. Le Guin - Always Coming Home