
Angela Su’s fictional artist Rosie Leavers is the last remaining person to upload her consciousness to a video game. Contemplating during a pandemic year which also saw people’s resistance movements in many parts of the world, the work pinpoints the uncanny affinities between gaming and warfare strategies. They have mutually informed the infrastructure of both worlds since time immemorial when diplomatic conflicts played out on the battlefield of the 64 squares of a chess board to flight simulation technologies which were adapted to shape gaming experiences as we know it now. When the conflict is between the state and its people, she speculates that gaming strategies empower civilians in resistance movements to counter imperialism through its own operative logic. But once we upload our consciousness, are we able to return to the sensibilities and political motivation that inspired the revolution to begin with?

Angela Su’s fictional artist Rosie Leavers is the last remaining person to upload her consciousness to a video game. Contemplating during a pandemic year which also saw people’s resistance movements in many parts of the world, the work pinpoints the uncanny affinities between gaming and warfare strategies. They have mutually informed the infrastructure of both worlds since time immemorial when diplomatic conflicts played out on the battlefield of the 64 squares of a chess board to flight simulation technologies which were adapted to shape gaming experiences as we know it now. When the conflict is between the state and its people, she speculates that gaming strategies empower civilians in resistance movements to counter imperialism through its own operative logic. But once we upload our consciousness, are we able to return to the sensibilities and political motivation that inspired the revolution to begin with?
2021-06-25
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“Phantasmapolis: Looking back to the future” is the video art program of the Asian Art Biennale 2021 curated by Anushka Rajendran.
10.0In times of conflict, a companion can be the final thread linking one to human connection. In Call of Duty: Warzone, communication is fractured, making it even harder to truly know those you play with. Dialogue is just a series of terse exchanges of orders and instructions; everything revolves around the game, everything is subsumed by war. Forming a meaningful connection with an anonymous player seems nearly impossible. In The Zone, the protagonists confront this challenge, pushing beyond the fleeting interactions dictated by random matchmaking. They seek to reclaim their humanity, engaging with pressing themes — religion, terrorism, and representation — subtly embedded in the game’s mechanics and geography.
0.0In July of 2021 there was a flood of catastrophic scope in the Ahrtal Region of Germany. 135 people lost their lives and countless others lost their possessions, their homes, their most treasured mementos. Three years later the reconstruction is progressing slowly. This is an attempt at exploring, what it means to irretrievably lose a part of ones’ past.
0.0A youngster writes a letter to his grandmother about his last trip to Donosti (Spain). This city inspires him to ponder about the language of cinema, time, cities, and sharing memories with our loved ones.
10.0A documentary, using dramatization of fact, that examines the Battle of Verrières Ridge, where on July 25, 1944 and not long after D-Day, an inexperienced battalion of the Canadian Black Watch Regiment launched a doomed attack and was defeated with heavy casualties by veteran German SS troops. Part of "The Valour and the Horror" mini series.
6.5Jacques Lemonnier of IBM France, Francois Dalle of L'Oreal and other ultrapowerful French moguls are surprisingly candid -- and cold-blooded -- as they discuss their attitudes about business in this startling 1978 documentary. After sounding off about unions, strikes, hierarchy and management, the subjects realized how callous they sounded and managed to convince the French government to suppress the film.
10.0A mechanic discovers the fossil of a huge carnivorous dinosaur, unleashing a war between scientists, mayors and neighboring towns to keep “the biggest dinosaur in the world.” Among bone thefts, replicas and a mayor obsessed with creating Dinolandia, anything goes when it comes to surviving.
0.0Departing from peripheral details of some paintings of the Bilbao Fine Arts Museum, a female narrator unravels several stories related to the economic, social and psychological conditions of past and current artists.
7.1A provocative and poetic exploration of how the British people have seen their own land through more than a century of cinema. A hallucinated journey of immense beauty and brutality. A kaleidoscopic essay on how magic and madness have linked human beings to nature since the beginning of time.
6.5Every image in The Fall of Communism as Seen in Gay Pornography comes from gay erotic videos produced in Eastern Europe since the introduction of capitalism. The video provides a glimpse of young men responding to the pressures of an unfamiliar world, one in which money, power and sex are now connected.
0.0Documentary about Ukrainian heroes and others who keep making music in the harshest conditions, to lift people's spirits during the war with Russia. Shot on location in Ukraine, Russia, and Poland.
9.0Amid violence and war, Ukrainian citizens are coming together to rescue animals that have been left behind by those forced to flee. From cats and dogs in abandoned buildings to lions and tigers in the nation’s zoos, extraordinary rescue efforts are underway to bring them to safety. The film is a tribute to the very best of the human spirit despite the horrors of war.
Words are loaded with meaning. Certain ones conjure joyful memories and others remind us of less happy times. For Nenda Neururer, the word 'oachkatzlschwoaf' invokes a range of emotions. The German word is very hard to pronounce and is synonymous with the Austrian state of Tyrol where locals tease outsiders by asking them to pronounce it. Despite growing up in Tyrol, Nenda Neururer often felt like an outsider when confronted with this word. But when she moved to London she grew nostalgic for it and it became her little secret. Found in Translation is a series made as part of the In The Mix project, in partnership with BBC Studios TalentWorks, Black Creators Matter and the Barbican.
8.0The United States of America has been at war for almost all of its 250 years of existence. From the wars of independence to current armed conflicts, its armed forces have not only shaped American identity, but also influenced the political decisions of its leaders. The documentary delves deep into this complex history and analyzes the hot and cold wars that shaped the development of the USA, along with lessons for the future. How have generations of Americans experienced these wars and how have their lives been changed by them? How has military engagement been used to shape the image and role of the USA on the world stage? Do military decisions today shape the world of tomorrow and what are the effects on democracy and society? And as the US president begins his new term in office, the question also arises: what role does the army play in Donald Trump's understanding of the world?
8.4Compulsive Twitterer, Elon Musk bought himself his favorite social network in 2022, and brutally shaped it according to his desires. This punchy investigation relates the stormy relations between the platform and the billionaire, and their impact on the public debate.
This lost WWI documentary appears to be about the German zeppelin attacks on Londonon September 2nd, 1916.
0.0A scientific expedition travels to an alternative Earth in hope of finding a new home for humanity, which has destroyed its own planet. But is it even possible to escape old patterns?