Transformation Scenario

In the background of blockbuster films, algorithms have replaced human extras in postproduction. By now we are used to automated masses filling the screen, animated by algorithms that let them interact, similar to computer games and agents in computational sociology. Such artificial masses are stepping in the foreground. Simulating life began in the movies and computer games, but influences many fields today. In architecture, city planning, and traffic navigation as well as in predictions of markets and trade, virtual scenarios influence society and change the way we live.
TRANSFORMATION SCENARIO’s speculative narration on the impact of emulated group behavior in society might well be inspired by Jean-Luc Godard’s LE GAI SAVOIR (1969): “To find the solution to a problem, be it a chemical or political problem, one has to dissolve it: dissolve hydrogen, dissolve the parliament. Therefore we will now dissolve images and sounds.” The film is part of a long-term project referencing Elias Canetti’s “Crowds and Power” (1960), shifting the view to imagery of society, crowd control, and the potential of masses today.

Text: arsenal-berlin.de