In his groundbreaking four-part work Parallel (2012-14), Harun Farocki explores the realm of video game design, particularly in its conception and creation of virtual worlds. With his characteristically probing, philosophical perspective, Farocki reveals and ponders the myriad ways in which these designed environments connect to or depart from our own individual and collective understanding of the actual world we inhabit. Through Farocki’s lens, video game design, as a practice of digital cosmogony, reveals itself as both a tool of the imagination and, inevitably, a mirror of our own self-awareness and self-image, defined as much by limits as it is by liberation.
This program will feature all four parts of Farocki’s masterful essay work, each section paired with a film by a contemporary artist which explores similar themes in a variety of ways, with an emphasis on the spatialization of collective/personal memory and emotional world-building. Employing varying technologies to approach their subject matter, these films will uncover fresh points of resonance with Farocki’s illuminating ideas, which still carry an ever-relevant visionary insight.
