DI-SIMULATED CROWDS
2018

Three channelled film, 13 mins.
Triptych format with common soundtrack.

The film focuses on the vocabulary, tools and human representation in the various types of software that is used for modelling and tracking crowd behaviour.

Featured in the film are examples from online crowd simulation tutorials: coordinated swarms, mass body crushes, campsites and religious gatherings such as the Hajj in Mecca. These examples are juxtaposed with newly shot scenes of gestures and postures drawn from the simulated crowd agent, the default character, pre-programmed behaviour re-enacted by dancers and images from human tracking devices and. images from human tracking devices and The voice-over interlaces the information and the instructions from the software tutorials generated by a speech edit software/robot voice, with the artist’s own voice and thoughts.

The film addresses the aesthetics and politics of these softwares and tracking system where these digital tools used for monitoring todays crowd flows and behaviour are becoming increasingly political while facing ethical dilemmas.

Shedding new light on the digitisation and simulations of crowds, their interconnected technologies and their inherent potentiality to predict and model our future collective behaviour. 

Part of the Moderna Muséet collection, Stockholm, Sweden.

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