World Upstream is an inquiry into the aesthetics of leisure. Set in a fictional future where artificial intelligence is fully embodied and the techno-utopian promise of freedom through automation has been realized, the work asks: What remains when labor becomes obsolete? The setting is a surreal picnic, where a diverse cast of characters—including a wise poplar tree, a group of quadruplets, and a Dyson vacuum, all equipped with artificial minds—become equal stakeholders in the rewilding of an aging hydroelectric dam on its path toward obsolescence.
The work exists as a live simulation built in a game engine and presents itself as a film that edits in real time. Instead of relying on traditional cinematic storytelling techniques, World Upstream uses emergent behaviors, where the interplay between camera movement, character actions, and environmental design creates proto-narratives—fragments of meaning that exist somewhere between the screen and the viewer’s imagination. The simulation’s infinite nature means the picnic never ends. As long as electricity flows, the characters are fated to continue their performative labor of leisure.
Laenz – Sound design
Olivia Yin – World design
Cezar Mocan is a Lisbon-based artist and computer programmer interested in the interplay between technology and the natural landscape. Using narrative generative systems—animated videos of infinite duration, real-time simulations built in game engines or other software—he creates worlds that recontextualize aspects of digital culture we take for granted, often in absurd ways, while investigating the power structures which mediate our relationship with technology. He is interested in the built infrastructures which enable our digital lives, as well as the ways in which their presence in the natural landscape affects our perception: the moments when utility becomes nostalgia. Drawing on media archaeology and art history, his research process traces the origins of our current thought patterns around (technological) progress.
Some of his past works have been exhibited with Inter/Access (Toronto), Transmediale Vorspiel (Berlin), Office Impart (Berlin), Onassis ONX Studio (New York), Currents New Media (Santa Fe), Romanian Design Week (Bucharest) and The Wrong Biennale. His real-time simulation work, Arcadia Inc. was recognized as a 2021 winner of the Lumen Prize in Art and Technology.
Website
cezar.io
Instagram
www.instagram.com/cezarmocan
World Upstream is an inquiry into the aesthetics of leisure. Set in a fictional future where artificial intelligence is fully embodied and the techno-utopian promise of freedom through automation has been realized, the work asks: What remains when labor becomes obsolete? The setting is a surreal picnic, where a diverse cast of characters—including a wise poplar tree, a group of quadruplets, and a Dyson vacuum, all equipped with artificial minds—become equal stakeholders in the rewilding of an aging hydroelectric dam on its path toward obsolescence.
The work exists as a live simulation built in a game engine and presents itself as a film that edits in real time. Instead of relying on traditional cinematic storytelling techniques, World Upstream uses emergent behaviors, where the interplay between camera movement, character actions, and environmental design creates proto-narratives—fragments of meaning that exist somewhere between the screen and the viewer’s imagination. The simulation’s infinite nature means the picnic never ends. As long as electricity flows, the characters are fated to continue their performative labor of leisure.
Laenz – Sound design
Olivia Yin – World design
Cezar Mocan is a Lisbon-based artist and computer programmer interested in the interplay between technology and the natural landscape. Using narrative generative systems—animated videos of infinite duration, real-time simulations built in game engines or other software—he creates worlds that recontextualize aspects of digital culture we take for granted, often in absurd ways, while investigating the power structures which mediate our relationship with technology. He is interested in the built infrastructures which enable our digital lives, as well as the ways in which their presence in the natural landscape affects our perception: the moments when utility becomes nostalgia. Drawing on media archaeology and art history, his research process traces the origins of our current thought patterns around (technological) progress.
Some of his past works have been exhibited with Inter/Access (Toronto), Transmediale Vorspiel (Berlin), Office Impart (Berlin), Onassis ONX Studio (New York), Currents New Media (Santa Fe), Romanian Design Week (Bucharest) and The Wrong Biennale. His real-time simulation work, Arcadia Inc. was recognized as a 2021 winner of the Lumen Prize in Art and Technology.
Website
cezar.io
Instagram
www.instagram.com/cezarmocan
