Third World: The Bottom Dimension
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 EXHIBITION
23 June – 26 November 2023An exhibition sharing interdisciplinary approaches to worldbuilding, conceived by Gabriel Massan and collaborators.
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THE GAME
June 2023-OngoingA co-created video game by Gabriel Massan and collaborators, developed as a “consciousness-raising" tool and a platform for experimental storytelling through play.
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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
- Video Game Team
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Gabriel Massan & Collaborators: Third World: The Bottom Dimension
Lead Artist, Creative Director, 3D Sculptor, Concept: Gabriel Massan
Featured Artists: Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro, Novíssimo Edgar, LYZZA
Sound Design: LYZZA
Unreal Development: Alexandre Pina, Marchino Manga and Ralph McCoy
Capture Mode Development and Unreal Consultant: Iraj Montasham
Animation, Cinematography and Film VFX: Carlos Minozzi
Additional Cinematography: Alexandre Pina
Graphic and I Design: Masako Hirano
Writing and Narrative Design Support: Sweet Baby Inc
Translator: Adriana Francisco
Translation Support: Manuela Cochat
Mastering Engineer: Rainy Miller
QA Testing: Keiran Cooper
Curator: Tamar Clarke-Brown
Producer: Róisín McVeigh - Exhibition Team
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Artists:
Gabriel Massan, Castiel Vitorino Brasileiro, Novíssimo Edgar, LYZZA, Ventura Profana, Jota Mombaça
Curated by:
Tamar Clarke-Brown, Arts Technologies Commissions Curator
Kay Watson, Head of Arts Technologies
Sarah Hamed, Assistant Exhibitions Curator
Video Game production led by Róisín McVeigh, Associate Producer, Arts TechnologiesWith Serpentine Arts Technologies:
Alex Boyes, Arts Technologies Producer
Victoria Ivanova, R&D Strategic Lead
Eva Jäger, Arts Technologies CuratorHans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director
Produced by:
Production Manager: Halime Özdemir
Assistant Production Manager: Zsuzsa Benke
Technical Director: Ivaylo Getov with on-site support from Gabriel Stones
Set Design and Tech Biota: Furmaan Ahmed
Set Design Assistants: Max Critchlow, Flint James Mcdonald, Ricardo Monteiro, Marta Stok, Hara Spyrou, Inga Tilda, and Sophie-Mai
Technicians: Michael Ditchburn, Luca George, Eóin Keeley, Giacomo Layet, Anthony Silvester and Andy Wyatt
Audiovisual Installation: Adam Barkley, Joshua Cumming-Webb, Ant Marlow, Jamie Maule, Dean Proctor, Charles Stanton-Jones and Sara Smith (ADi)
Lighting, Rigging and Set Build: Svend Johanssen and Rob (Pacey) Prestage (DCLX)
Fabrication and Steelworks: Langa Langa, Isaac Leung, Robert McCloed and Julian Tapales
Sculpture Fabrication: Jamie Bracken-Lobb, and Gabriel Stones
Design Work: We Cut Stuff
Upholstery: Camilla Jayne Bradley Upholstery & Design
Web3 token development: Pascal Brun and Lionel Perrin at Papers AGWith additional support from the Serpentine Legal Lab led by Alana Kushnir
Special Thanks
- Playtesters
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Leonardo Almeida, Alex Baldwin, Guilherme Baumworcel, Alexa Chow, Rebecca Edwards, Alba Daza, Joshua Ferguson, Cloë Ferguson, Marie Foulston, Ralph Louis Gaudio, Ivaylo Getov, Hanna Girma, Max Glazer-Munck, Sarah Hamed, Libby Heaney, Funmi Lijadu, Flora Kessler, Chris Kindred, Samantha King, Jamie Kodera, Bettina Korek, Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Tanya Pragnell, Ralph Pritchard, Karina Lopez, Youssra Manlaykhaf, Sammy Ofer, Halime Özdemir, Alex Rowse, Nico Smirnoff, Barney Steel, Kostas Stasinopoulos, Octavia Stead, Leah Yeoh, Tom Wandrag, Sophia Wee.
- Advisors and Supporters
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Arthur Breitman, Kathleen Breitman, Mason Edwards, Sarah Friend, Whitney Hart, Meghna Jayanth, Rodrigo Jesus, Ta’Wa Melke, Fabien Siouffi, Veronica So, Bettina Korek, Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Tom Wandrag, Abiding Bridge, A Gentil Carioca, HOA Galerie, Valérie Whitacre, Mendes Wood.
