Geometries of Power

Geometries of Power
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Geometries of Power
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1024 × 768

Geometries of Power
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1024 × 768

Geometries of Power
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972 × 727

Geometries of Power
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Geometries of Power
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"Geometries of Power" is a multi-user online 3D world that uses
the interactive characteristics of space, geometry and sound
to question concepts of power and control.

Beginning with the blank canvas of a faceless modern city, participants click-and-drag images – each image chanting its own audio mantra – to both construct and deconstruct the world. Some images, photos of public politicians, are mapped at a giant scale onto the faces of the buildings. Others images, photos of underground terrorists, appear at ground level and can be further deconstructed into smaller tiles - each tile repeating its audio mantra.

Although the images of politicians dominate the space by virtue of their huge scale, the deconstructed images of the terrorists start filling the space between buildings. The more fragmented they become, the more they dominate the space both physically and through the hum of their multiple voices.

The following images were produced during the Fusion02 Event on December 6, 2002. The event was hosted by the Bauhaus-University/Weimar and the University of California/Los Angeles (UCLA,) but other participants joined from various locations including Australia, the USA, France, Belgium and Germany.

Initially the images came only from the directories we provided. As the event progressed, participants searched the Internet for other images, leading inevitably to a loosening of our theme but with very interesting visual results. The tool itself became a way to subvert the power and the control of its creators.