Third World: The Bottom Dimension

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An experimental video game, exhibition and web3 project led by Gabriel Massan with Serpentine Arts Technologies that invites us to reorient our understandings of reality, and ourselves.

THE GAME

June 2023-Ongoing

A co-created video game by Gabriel Massan and collaborators, developed as a “consciousness-raising" tool, a platform for experimental storytelling and an experience of agenc...

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THE EXHIBITION

23 June – 22 October

An exhibition sharing interdisciplinary approaches to worldbuilding, conceived by Gabriel Massan and collaborators.

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Third World: The Bottom Dimension is a multi-part project conceptualised by artist Gabriel Massan in collaboration with invited artists Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro, Novíssimo Edgar, and vocalist and music producer LYZZA. Together, their work explores Black Brazilian experience as it intersects with the impacts of colonialism.

Through the lenses of decoloniality, queerness and decentralisation (technological, social, economic, and ideological), Third World: The Bottom Dimension challenges us to rethink the ways in which we understand and orient ourselves in the world. Launching in June 2023, the project has three components: a free-to-download video game, an exhibition at Serpentine North and web3 tokens, built on the Tezos blockchain, which bring together Massan, their collaborators and a wider web3 community.

Built with practitioners who are concerned with deconstructing colonial knowledge systems, ‘Third World’ challenges destructive narratives that continue to shape our physical and digital worlds. In development since late 2021, the experimental project prioritises ‘consciousness-raising’ and worldbuilding, convening a wide network of researchers and practitioners, including artists, developers, animators, filmmakers, and more. Across its multiple parts, Third World: The Bottom Dimension gathers interdisciplinary responses to what the artist calls our contemporary ‘state of emergence’.*

The project continues Serpentine Arts Technologies’ commitment to experimenting with the role that art can play in the development of advanced technologies such as video games, blockchain and AI, and understanding their impact on culture and society. This is achieved through the commissioning and production of ambitious artist-led projects, and a research and development programme that includes Future Art Ecosystems and R&D Labs to prototype protocols and strategies for the future of art and advanced technologies.

*This project, and this phrase, arise from Massan’s questions about how to emerge from a moment of emergency, and Brazil as a state of re-emergence.

Project Team

Artist Team

Gabriel Massan & Collaborators: Third World: The Bottom Dimension, 2022
featuring Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro, Novíssimo Edgar, LYZZA 

[Video Game] 

Sound Design – LYZZA
Unreal Development – Alexandre Pina
Unreal Development – Marcinho Manga
Unreal Development – Iraj Montasham
Capture Mode Development – Iraj Montasham
Game Design – Ralph McCoy
Animation, Cinematography & Film VFX – Carlos Minozzi
Graphic & UI Design – Masako Hirano
Translation – Adriana Francisco
Mastering – Rainy Miller

Curated and produced by

Arts Technologies, led by:
Tamar Clarke-Brown (Curator, Commissions)
Roisin McVeigh (Associate Producer)
Kay Watson (Head of Arts Technologies)

with
Alex Boyes (Producer, Arts Technologies), Eva Jaeger (Curator, Arts Technologies), Victoria Ivanova (Strategic Lead, Arts Technologies), Sarah Hamed (Assistant Exhibitions Curator)

Special Thanks

Collaborators

Gabriel Massan, Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro, Novissimo Edgar, LYZZA and more to be announced.  

Playtesters

Guilherme Baumworcel, Alexa Chow, Rebecca Edwards, Alba Daza, Hanna Girma, Sarah Hamed, Libby Heaney, Funmi Lijadu, Flora Kessler, Chris Kindred, Samantha King, Jamie Kodera, Bettina Korek, Tanya Pragnell, Ralph Pritchard, Karina Lopez, Youssra Manlaykhaf, Halime Özdemir, Nico Smirnoff, Kostas Stasinopoulos, Octavia Stead, Leah Yeoh, Tom Wandrag, Sophia Wee.

Advisors and Supporters

Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Veronica So, Alana Kushnir, Meghna Jayanth, HOA Galeria.

Archive

Discover 50 years of the Serpentine

From the architecture pavilion and digital commissions to the ideas marathon and the General Ecology programme, explore 50 years of artists, projects and exhibitions.

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