Serpentine North Gallery
23 June – 22 October 2023
Led by artist Gabriel Massan, an experimental video game, exhibition and web3 project in collaboration with Serpentine Arts Technologies, Third World: The Bottom Dimension is inviting viewers to reorient their understanding of reality and themselves through the lens of decolonialism, queerness and decentralisation (technological, social, economic and ideological).
Third World: The Bottom Dimension is a multi-part project conceptualised by artist Gabriel Massan in collaboration with invited artists Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro, Novíssimo Edgar, and vocalist and music producer LYZZA. Together, their work explores Black Brazilian experience as it intersects with the impacts of colonialism. In development since late 2021，launched in June 2023, the project has three components: a free-to-download video game, an exhibition at Serpentine North and web3 tokens, built on the Tezos blockchain, which bring together Massan, their collaborators and a wider web3 community.
Built with practitioners who are concerned with deconstructing colonial knowledge systems, ‘Third World’ challenges destructive narratives that continue to shape our physical and digital worlds. In development since late 2021, the experimental project prioritises ‘consciousness-raising’ and worldbuilding, convening a wide network of researchers and practitioners, including artists, developers, animators, filmmakers, and more. Across its multiple parts, Third World: The Bottom Dimension gathers interdisciplinary responses to what the artist calls our contemporary ‘state of emergence’.*
Expanding Massan’s practice of ‘fictional archaeology’, the game is a fantastical simulation that investigates the converging landscapes and post-colonial complexities of contemporary Brazil and beyond. The project explores the concept of ‘game-as-platform’ and the role of a public arts institution in nurturing a constellation of diverse perspectives. Each level or “episode” in the game is conceptualised by a featured artist, in collaboration with Massan, bringing themes central to their practice to build on the lore of Third World.
Echoing the unique shifting sense of time in the game, and the inherent interactivity of games as a medium, the exhibition will feature sound, light and visuals to create a tactile, reverberant, and dynamic setting. Visitors will be invited to play the game in disorienting game rooms, seated inside Massan’s stations. Players can record ‘memories’ of their own actions as they play the game, and by minting this record (or snapshot) on the blockchain, build a public archive of multiple perspectives and actions. In addition, a limited- edition collection will bring together Massan, their collaborators and a wider community of web3 artists.
The project continues Serpentine Arts Technologies’ commitment to experimenting with the role that art can play in the development of advanced technologies such as video games, blockchain and AI, and understanding their impact on culture and society. This is achieved through the commissioning and production of ambitious artist-led projects, and a research and development programme that includes Future Art Ecosystems and R&D Labs to prototype protocols and strategies for the future of art and advanced technologies.
Bettina Korek, CEO and Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director said:“Massan’s project not only demonstrates an iterative process in terms of our relationship with the artist supporting development of concept, game, then exhibition, but also how work like this can exist and engage across fields, building new connections between artists and society.”
*This project, and this phrase, arise from Massan’s questions about how to emerge from a moment of emergency, and Brazil as a state of re-emergence.
蛇形畫廊北展廳
2023年6月23日-10月22日
由藝術家加布里埃尔·马桑（Gabriel Massan）領導， 與蛇形藝術技術團隊合作的實驗性視頻遊戲、展覽和 web3 項目， 《第三世界：底層維度（Third World: The Bottom Dimension）》通過去殖民主義、酷兒性和去中心化（技術、社會、經濟和意識形態）的視角，邀請觀眾重新定位對現實和對自身的理解。
《第三世界：底層維度》由加布里埃尔·马桑邀請藝術家卡斯蒂爾·維托里諾·巴西萊羅（Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro）、諾維西莫·埃德加（Novíssimo Edgar）以及歌手兼音樂製作人 LYZZA，合作構思。 他們共同探討了殖民主義影響下的巴西黑人的經歷。該項目自 2021 年底開始開發，於 2023 年 6 月啟動，由三個部分組成：免費下載的視頻遊戲、蛇形畫廊北展廳的展覽以及基於 Tezos 區塊鏈構建的 web3 代幣。
“第三世界”由關註解構殖民知識體系的實踐者建立，挑戰了持續塑造我們的物理和數字世界的破壞性敘事。 該實驗項目優先考慮“意識提升”和世界建設，召集了廣泛的研究人員和從業者網絡，包括藝術家、開發人員、動畫師、電影製作人等。 《第三世界：底層維度》在其多個部分中收集了對藝術家所說的我們當代“湧現狀態”的跨學科回應。*
該遊戲作為一款奇幻模擬遊戲，擴展了馬桑的“虛構考古學”實踐，調查當代巴西及其他地區的交匯景觀和後殖民複雜性。 該項目探討了“遊戲即平台”的概念以及公共藝術機構在培養多元化觀點方面的作用。遊戲中的每個關卡或“章節”均由一位特色藝術家與馬桑合作構思，以第三世界的傳說為基礎，將主題融入到他們的實踐中。
為了呼應遊戲中獨特的時間變化感，以及遊戲作為媒介固有的互動性，展覽將以聲音、燈光和視覺效果為特色，創造一個觸覺、迴響和動態的環境。遊客將被邀請在馬桑的令人眼花繚亂的遊戲室內進行體驗。玩家可以在玩遊戲時記錄自己的行為“記憶”，並通過在區塊鏈上鑄造此記錄（或快照），建立多個視角和行為的公共檔案。 這些代幣將马桑、項目合作者們和更廣泛的 web3 社區聚集在一起。
該項目延續了蛇形藝術技術公司的承諾，即試驗藝術在視頻遊戲、區塊鍊和人工智能等先進技術開發中的作用，並了解它們對文化和社會的影響。這是通過委託，製作由雄心勃勃的藝術家主導的項目以及一項研究和開發計劃來實現的，該計劃包括未來藝術生態系統和研發實驗室，以製定未來藝術和先進技術的原型協議和戰略。
首席執行官貝蒂娜·科列克（Bettina Korek）和藝術總監漢斯·烏爾里希·奧布里斯特（Hans Ulrich Obrist）表示：“馬桑的項目不僅展示了我們與藝術家支持概念、遊戲和展覽發展的關係的迭代過程，而且還展示了這樣的作品如何跨領域存在和參與，在藝術家和社會之間建立新的聯繫。”
*這個項目和這句話源於馬桑關於如何擺脫緊急時刻以及巴西作為重新崛起狀態的問題。
Edited 編輯 x Xinde Ren 任心得
