“Magic Word & Giuliano” is an experimental work that starts from a personal experience and contains explorations of media, workflow and imagnd ultimately the improvisation of a computer program. In terms of imagery, the models in the scenes are all leftovers from the work, designed and created in an unrelated way, randomly placed in the game scenes, rendered and composited with special shader effects, and parametric virtual lenses. Medium-wise, it is a game program that runs automatically, in a sense controlling itself if the viewer imagines the camera object to be the game’s protagonist. Formally, the images lead to a motion picture that resembles a speed race. There is no narrative in the work itself, but the linear track connects the different objects in the scene to form a link between them. These elements ultimately form an electronic landscape that can be interpreted from multiple perspectives.
The programmed artificial intelligences are engaged in a meaningless race, they are copies of themselves, they consume their own arithmetic power, and so on and so forth, flipping back and forth from one illusion to another, as if going back and forth in a Möbius loop, which is as absurd as it is endless. This unbounded, fruitless race dissolves the meaning of the race itself, and instead makes the journey the wit and absurdity of the landscape itself. Are we living under this comedy?
*The video contains partial nudity. Please watch with caution.
Han XIA’s artistic practice focuses on theexploration of technological ethics, encompassing the realms of environment,biology, and technology in relation to human rights and ethical considerations.He view gaming environments as stages, with the audience assuming roles within avirtual theater. His works often construct non-realistic worlds or virtuallandscapes, conveying a strong undercurrent of pessimism.
