Reality (Beta) at Ars Electronica

September 6 - 10, 2023
Location: Ars Electronica, Postcity, Linz, Austria

The simulation hypothesis – that our lived experience is actually a computer simulation – has gained legitimacy among philosophical circles and the public imagination in recent years. The rapid improvement in the verisimilitude of video game worlds is often cited as an example of how virtual space will soon become indistinguishable from the physical world as we know it. In a period of several decades, games have blossomed from rudimentary two-dimensional vector and pixel-based graphics to high-resolution, polygonal, three-dimensional worlds. But what if the architects of our simulated world have been improving the resolution and graphical quality over our history unbeknownst to us? And what if you could peer back into earlier builds of the real world?

Chicago Gamespace is delighted to exhibit work by Chicago-based new media artist Thorne Brandt. Brandt has created a looking glass-style mobile camera filter, augmented by AI, that 'proves' we are living in a computer simulation. After posing for a photo, visitors will view a polygonal, crudely texture-mapped image of themselves from a beta version of reality when it had worse graphics.  By degrading the appearance of the user, Reality (Beta) also parodies the ubiquitous beautify filters of today’s social media applications.

The Reality (Beta) online filter will be available soon here.