Peter Burr

Burr’s display - a computational artwork, Dirtscraper - is a theorised landscape of an urban development living and dying within a game engine. Originally presented as an immersive installation, GAZELL.iO will exhibit an approximately 90 minutes long, cyclical-feature length film version of the artwork projected on the walls of the project space. This will immerse the visitor in the artwork's architecture and the many mythologies created in this dystopian space. 

Dirtscraper simulates an underground structure whose 'smart architecture' is overseen by artificial intelligence - spatial and social designers who observe, learn, and change the system. The viewer watches the residents who move through spaces reflecting varied economies and class hierarchies, unaware of the control these AI entities exert. 

Periodically this system interjects one of the 48 cinematic interludes that reveal different facets of life in this decaying arcology. Members of the virtual community tell the tale of their surroundings, relationships, and mental health to quell the constant noise of their precarious circumstances. The artwork, as a whole, emulates a collective body that has been subjected to the inner workings of a gridded simulation: housing blocks are overrun by industry, residents are displaced, the individual withers—the story of a constantly kinetic city and the people that persist as inhabitants remain. 

The nature of the display sensorily immerses the visitor within the infrastructure of this game, almost as an active participant in the never-ending labyrinth Burr has created.