JOCELYN MILLER

The first comprehensive U.S. survey of artist Ian Cheng, featuring the artist's Emissaries trilogy (2015-17), a series of live simulation works made using a video game engine to create open-ended, computer-generated simulations, like those used in predictive technologies for complex scenarios such as climate change studies or election polls.  

 

Self-contained digital ecosystems, Cheng's simulations are populated by a cast of characters and wildlife that interact, intervene, and recombine in infinitely generating narratives, inviting timeless questions about evolution, the origins of human consciousness, and ways of relating to a chaotic existence. Presented with 10-foot-tall projections, each simulation unfolds at life size, positioning viewers as observers who can follow the lives of specific characters as they interact within the simulated worlds and each other in an ever-changing environment.  The exhibition extends into the digital space through a collaboration with Twitch.tv, the social video platform and community for gamers.

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