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Guillaume Saur

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Libby Leshgold Gallery

Beta is a three-dimensional immersive exhibition that considers the ways in which structures of control are embedded in environments known as metaverse, and intends to depict uncanny territories contrasting the ones presented in platforms such as Horizon Worlds, or Decentraland. Questioning the definition of the metaverse – formerly introduced by tech giants Microsoft and Meta as an idealistic place promoting escapism and techno-utopianism – this hypnotic experience unveils opaque and authoritative systems of surveillance embedded within virtual environments regulated by major tech companies.

This high-definition three-dimensional film challenges the notion of artificiality within systems of computer-generated images, blurring the boundaries between reality and fiction within virtual spaces. Considering that algorithmically generated content is fundamentally deceiving by nature, creating systems of mistrust between users and technology, this installation examines how the new media age has amplified the artificiality that surrounds our experiences of the world.

Beta manifests through the projection of three multi-channel videos, in a space allowing the audience to be immersed in a three-dimensional landscape. The exhibition takes the form of a hypnotic and photographic dreamscape influenced by a large scope of emotional nuances: dislocation of both space and time but also fear, vulnerability, embodiment, and compassion. The high-definition images force us to question our relationship with reality within systems of images based on photographic and textural artifacts of the tangible world, creating an audio-visual illusion of transcendence.

Guillaume Saur

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Guillaume Saur is a multimedia installation artist whose practice explores the potential for artificial intelligence to imagine non-dystopian futures. Through the creation of a virtual laboratory for collecting data and image-making, he considers contemporary issues related to surveillance capitalism and suggests new trajectories noncompliant with the ever-growing syndrome of algorithmic anxiety.

Working with both data mining and image processing, he attempts to mimic parts of algorithmic process methodologies by mining, scraping, and classifying publicly available images. By reversing some of the patterns operated by facial recognition software companies, he challenges facial recognition systems, while algorithmically generating a new series of original images that will further thwart systems of surveillance.

Lately, he has been exploring three-dimensional animated films that contribute to raising awareness toward structures of data extraction, thus reversing the gaze on power systems populating digital territories, and inviting his audience to resist web giants’ techno-utopian doctrines.

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