Wwwunderkammer

In her wwwunderkammer, Carla Gannis appeals to the 16th-Century "Cabinet of Curiosity" to consider the uncanny complications of grounded reality and virtual reality, nature and artifice, science and science fiction in contemporary digital culture. She explores these complications as evidence of an ontological underdetermination in experience, rich with potential for transformative intervention; and she works to build virtual worlds, founded upon de-colonizing, post-humanist, and...
More Description

In her wwwunderkammer, Carla Gannis appeals to the 16th-Century "Cabinet of Curiosity" to consider the uncanny complications of grounded reality and virtual reality, nature and artifice, science and science fiction in contemporary digital culture. She explores these complications as evidence of an ontological underdetermination in experience, rich with potential for transformative intervention; and she works to build virtual worlds, founded upon de-colonizing, post-humanist, and feminist archives, countering the prejudicial assumptions of the algorithms and visual culture of Silicon Valley.This book surveys Gannis' project from its inception as a gallery exhibition at Telematic Media Arts in March, 2020, through its subsequent development on-line in Social VR and its further expansion to include a series of collaborations with experts in related fields, up until January, 2022. It was edited with an essay in five parts by curator Clark Buckner and published by Telematic in anticipation of an exhibition of the project at the Halsey Institute of Contemporary Art, at the College of Charleston in Charleston, South Carolina, USA.With contributions by Charlotte Kent, Leah Roh, Regina Harsanyi, and Regine GilbertAnd additional writing by Bruce Sterling, Charlotte Kent, and Natasha Chuk