Where does the video game end and the real life begin? With the arrival of simulators, augmented reality and social networking games, frontiers becomes harder to define. And so is the magic circle that separates the fantasy world from the outside world. But is there really a real, outside world that would be exempt of any fantasies? And could video games be completely isolated from their cultural context? Is the concept of magic circle not outdated? In his essay Spatial Typologies of Games, Alex Wade suggests instead to locate video games using the three spaces of Henri Lefebvre: perceived space (how we interpret space), conceived space (space of science and rationality) and lived space (the space where we live). He adds another dimension, digital space. Video games are multidimensional in his model, and need to be situated on the four axes.

Best…flame war…Ever (2007) by Eddo Stern is a conversation recorded on a forum of the EverQuest video game. It is rendered using digital masks inspired by the universe of the game. The conversation and its staging, using an epic soundtrack and digital masks, blur the frontier between the universe of EverQuest and the ‘outside’ world.

Best…flame war…Ever, Eddo Stern, 2007

The Ego-shooter installation (2008) by Sonja-Vanessa Schmitz mixes virtual and tactile reality. Its hand-made game-suit looks more virtual than those in first-person-shooter games. Interior and decorative elements are layered with a 3D replicated environment so that it becomes difficult to differentiate the two universes. Here, lived space is a by-product of digital space.

Ego-shooter, Sonja-Vanessa Schmitz, 2008

What is your reaction to this blurring between digital and material spaces? Do you embrace it and take both the positive and negative aspects, or do you instead resist it by defining clear delimitations between games and the rest of your life?

See also the annex discussion by Gabriele Ferri, Question Blocks: How to make two worlds collide?

Next theme: Chronology in video games

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9

The slides of the lecture I gave few weeks ago can now be consulted here. I used the example of Walt Disney World to illustrate the concepts of Utopia, Heterotopia, Postmodernisn and Consumerism. It would have taken me two hours to explain all the relations between them and the theme park. My presentation was limited to half of that time and only a subset of the slides were used for the Philosophy for All lecture. Don’t hesitate to leave your feedback. I hope that the slides are still understandable even without any comments.

Foreword

What means Progress nowadays? Who defines it? What is our verdict on past and present visions of the future? After having believed in so many utopias, and having been so close to so many dystopias, do we still want to imagine an ideal future? Can we? The Dreams of Progress exhibition intends to introduce the visitor to these questions by screening eleven videos from corporations and artists.

The first set of videos explore some of the utopias envisioned by corporations from the 40s until now. They offer an insight into the social values of their time: efficiency, order, technology, consumerism, knowledge, sustainability and globalisation to list only few of them. In their form, the videos are the natural descendants of utopian visions from authors such as  Thomas More and Aldous Huxley. However, they each offer a unique solution for the future, radically new or in continuity of past ideals.

The second set of videos are by emerging video artists from around the world. Some of artists describe their own vision of the future, others express their perspective on the ambivalent notion of Progress. Rather than reaching a consensus, their videos put forward a wide range of perspectives, from nostalgia to optimism, cynicism to embracement. The videos give a glimpse at how the current Western generation put in perspective ‘Progress’ since their childhood, and how they live it today.

Both sets are distributed on five screens with the intention of exploring the dialogue between the videos. The visitor is asked to make his own judgement on whether what he sees is propaganda lead by self interest, or a genuine proposition for a better future; if the videos advocate ‘Progress’ or instead distance themselves from such beliefs.

The exhibition does not provide any concrete answers, but instead intends to place the ideas of Utopia and Progress at the centre stage of the social debate. The world needs more than ever to meditate on its course, in what some describe as a profound global crisis, economical, environmental and ideological. Utopias and visionaries tend paradoxically to emerge in the least favourable circumstances. For some, they testify on the capacity that has humanity to  choose itself until its most unlikely destiny. For others, they are a chronicle disease.

• Videos part 1: Visions for the future
• Videos part 2: Microsoft productivity vision for 2019
• Videos part 3: Artistic views at the past
• Videos part 4: Discovery of Magnetic North
• Videos part 5: Artistic reactions to Progress

To New Horizons, Handy (Jam) Organization, USA, 1940 – 23 min.

“Definitive document of pre-World War II futuristic utopian thinking, as envisioned by General Motors. Documents the ‘Futurama’ exhibit in GM’s ‘Highways and Horizons’ pavilion at the World’s Fair, which looks ahead to the ‘wonder world of 1960.’”

Century 21 Calling, Fairbanks (Jerry) Productions, 1964 – 14 min.

“Romp through the futuristic landscape of the Seattle World’s Fair, centred in the Bell System pavilion.”

Future of Cities, Squint/opera, UK, 2007 – 4 min.

“The film was commissioned by The Danish Royal Academy of Architecture and is part of a publication outlining the outcome of the International Federation for Housing and Planning Congress that took place in Copenhagen in 2007. ‘Futures of Cities’ is a selection of contributions presented during the congress. These contributions consist of work from miscellaneous architectural practitioners, ten principles developed by ‘Monday Morning’ and competition entries from the student competition that took place as part of the event.”

• Comments on these visions for the future
• Videos part 2: Microsoft productivity vision for 2019

Productivity Future Vision 2019, Microsoft Office Labs, USA, 2009 – 6 min.

“While the future is impossible to predict, we are constantly looking forward, analyzing trends, and gathering insights to gain a deeper understanding of how investments in computer technology can help us live more productive, fulfilling, and sustainable lives. We welcome you to join us in this journey.”

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• Comments on the 2019 productivity vision from Microsoft
• Videos part 3: Artistic views at the past

Discovery of Magnetic North, Richard Jerousek and Brian Phillips, USA, 2007 – 20 min.

“This video is meant to accompany the live performances of our music project, Discovery of Magnetic North. Much of the music is influenced by the mysterious and bittersweet feelings connected to our earliest memories, most of which have strong ties to the video media that has engulfed us since birth.”

(sadly, the original video is not available anymore on the Internet but here is a taste)

Soundtrack by Discovery of Magnetic North (copyright 2007).
Video material from various Television series, Movies, and Educational Films of the 60s-80s.

Artists: http://www.myspace.com/discoveryofmagneticnorth

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• Comments on the Discovery of Magnetic North video
• Videos part 5: Artistic reactions to Progress

Mardi Gras, Keith Loutit, Australia, 2009 – 3min.

“Mardi Gras is the 7th short film in the 12 month documentary project ‘Little Sydney’.

The idea behind ‘Little Sydney’ is to shrink mankind down to a scale that is more representative of our actual position in the world. By transforming well known locations and daily life, I challenge people to take a second look at places familiar to them and not to take their surroundings for granted.”

McCOOL!!!, Julian Roberts and Namalee Bolle, UK, 2007 – 2 min.

“No.4 in the Relentless Optimism Series entitled McCOOL!!!. Here Namalee Bolle consumes a Super Big Mac. There’s no real script for the Relentless Optimism Series of videos, other than we both wanted to shoot a series of optimistic videos that were  unrehearsed, recorded, edited & released in a single day.”

Tokyo.Future, Ian Lynam, Japan, 2007 – 1 min.

“The video is about a modular, utopian Tokyo of the future. The constant rebuilding and perpetual evolution of the city is displayed, as is a galactic voyage taken by the entire megalopolis. Tokyoites are great travellers (especially in groups), so I imagined that the future denizens of Tokyo would pack up and go sightseeing around the universe together, much like the Tokyoites of the Edo period.”

• Comments on these artistic reactions to Progress
• Back to the Dreams of Progress homepage

This paper documents the curation of the Dreams of Progress exhibition that was held at the Westminster Reference Library in July 2009. The theme of the video art exhibition was Utopia and Progress. It included a philosophical debate and a children’s workshop. It is now available online on the Curated Matter website. The exhibition in its physical form remained confidential but was very well received by its visitors and generated exciting new thoughts on Utopia and Progress. The philosophical debate attracted around 50 people from various backgrounds including professors, philosophical students, art curators and engineers. The children’s workshop introduced the theme of progress to around twenty children. The exhibition and its satellite activities were the results of six months of research and preparation, which is detailed below.

1. Choice of the theme and selection of the videos
2. Relation to the Westminster Reference Library
3. The exhibition space
4. Legends and introduction to the exhibition
5. Philosophical debate
6. Children’s Art Day
7. Online exhibition
8. Federate around the project

Introduction to the exhibition

The theme of Dreams of Progress did not come at once. Initially, I wanted to curate video projects related to optimism. Looking at the videos on the Internet, I felt there was an optimistic movement originating from young American artists. Many of their videos depict a positive and colourful world, made of human contacts and everyday pleasures. It may  be seen as a return to simple things after the an orgy of technology and “Bling-bling”. The movement seemed related to what I imagine being the flower power years. I was interested to understand if this optimism had anything new and unique or if it was just a constant noise that can be witnessed at any time. But I struggled to nail down videos explicitly about optimism. Search terms like ‘optimism’ and ‘happiness’ were not popular on video websites. I still believe the movement exists but it isn’t defined by the artists (at least not yet?). Is it appropriate for a curator to build an exhibition on a theme that none of the artists explicitly address?  Perhaps it is, but I wasn’t willing to go down this road for the exhibition.

When I could find videos explicitly about optimism, I began to wonder, is optimism still relevant nowadays? Are we optimistic today?  What is there to be optimistic about? I considered studying our ideas about dreams for the future, immediate or distant. I found by looking at search keywords like ‘future’ and ‘dream’ that many people are thinking positively about the future,  these people are classified as utopians. The notions remains that no positive future is really possible and positive people are considered unrealistic. I also noticed that many recent videos prefer to look at past visions of the future instead of the ones of today. Some videos question the dreams from previous generations, others are cynical or complacent.

After having navigated through many videos, I defined the final theme of the exhibition (this can be found on the press release). I was ready to curate the videos and began to research within literature. I did not plan to call for submissions as I felt this would impose my own views too heavily on potential artists. As explained in details in the mission statement of the Curated Matter venture, I also wanted to curate videos without knowing who made them in order to not be biased. As a result,  I didn’t know any of the artists before contacting them. They come from many backgrounds and are from around the world.

It became obvious to me very rapidly that I could not curate this exhibition without presenting also videos from corporations. They played a central role in past decades by articulating in images the utopias of their times. Some of the corporate videos have an artistic aspect and it seemed it artificial to reject them because they have been privately founded.

Next: Relation to the Westminster Reference Library

The theme of the Dreams of Progress exhibition and most of its videos have been set before I found the hosting venue. I still wanted to arrange the exhibition so that it links to its physical context, or at least doesn’t deny it. I first looked at the history of the Westminster Reference Library, which is well known for being built on the former house of Isaac Newton, Lord Macaulay famously stating saying that the home of Sir Isaac Newton would be “well known as long as our island retains any trace of civilisation”. I was tempted first to incorporate this reference to the description of the exhibition because it fits nicely with the theme of progress. Later, I found it diminishing. I felt that it was denying the current function of the building. I was then inclined to instrument the fact that the space is a library, its mission of education for all is a dream of progress by itself.  I decided after all to not introduce any connections with the library in the theme of the exhibition. What was much more tangible was the help from the staff of the library, which was felt by every visitor.  The Dreams of Progress exhibition was in this space because of the help of its staff and their utopian vision of what a library should be; it came from their own initiative, not a mission statement.

During the exhibition, the staff of the library displayed books related to the theme of Utopia and Progress, which I found marvellous.

Next: The exhibition space