Worldbuilding: Video Games and Art in the Digital Age at Centre Pompidou-Metz

The exhibition 'Worldbuilding. Jeux vidéo et art à l’ère digitale' is on view at Centre Pompidou-Metz until January 15, 2024. Curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, it was originally produced by the Julia Stoschek Foundation in Düsseldorf and adapted for the Metz venue. The show explores the aesthetics of video games in contemporary art. Among the playable works on level 3 is Theo Triantafyllidis's 'Pastoral' (2019), where visitors navigate a wheat field as a bodybuilder avatar. Jonathan Horowitz's 'Free Tech Store' (2023) invites exchange of used electronics, sourced locally to minimize carbon footprint. Neil Beloufa & EBB's 'Screen-Talk' (2023) lets viewers choose video programs about a pandemic, presciently begun in 2014. Jakob Kudsk Steensen's VR piece 'Re-Animated' (2018-19) features the extinct Kauai ʻōʻō bird. Koo Jeong A's 3D animation 'Chamnawana (True me & i)' (2017) depicts two figures in a dark void, alluding to social media. Jacolby Satterwhite's 24-minute video 'We Are in Hell When We Hurt Each Other' (2020) blends afro, queer, and gaming influences. The exhibition reconsiders the notion of masterpieces in the digital age.