Harun Farocki’s Parallel II and Parallel III (2014), Peggy Ahwesh’s The Falling Sky (2017), David Blandy’s and Larry Achiampong’s Finding Fanon 2 (2015), and Sondra Perry’s It’s in the Game 17 (2017) explore various kinds of digital simulations and their functioning. From mundane environments to planetary views, from military cartographies to non-human worlds, computer scientists and video game developers are building hyper-realities, where view(s)ers acquire virtual bodies and act in virtual spaces. Experientially, these hyper-realities are characteristic of a means to navigate through complex and multi-scalar situations. Yet, what does the simulation of reality mimic and for whom does it function? What does hyper-reality tell us about the real and how does it represent intrinsic mechanisms of control and colonialism? From ontological questions about the nature of (hyper)reality to the critical appropriation of forms of digital worlds, the works in this chapter of the series re-embody and critically examine the simulated environment.
True Fake: Troubling the Real in Artists’ Films is an a five-part film series programmed by Lukas Brasiskis. It runs from February 9 through April 20, 2021.
The films in Part One | Simulations and (Hyper)Reality will screen for two weeks, from Tuesday, February 9 through Monday, February 22, 2021. Subsequent parts will follow bi-weekly, with new films screened every other Tuesday. A repeat screening of all films in the series from parts one through five will take place on Tuesday, April 20, 2021.