G80, photo: Fragmentin
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G80

Fragmentin (CH)

G80 is an interactive installation that proposes a contemporary interpretation of Richard Buckminster Fuller’s World Game: a strategy simulation tool inspired by War Games, which aimed at an equitable distribution of resources on a planetary scale. Created in the cybernetic era in the early 1960s, it embodies the promise of computation and mathematical models for solving socio-political and ecological problems.

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In opposition to this technocratic hypothesis, G80 questions the absurdity of the idea itself. This is rooted in an exhausted techno-capitalist system that refuses to look beyond mathematical models.

The artwork features a console with a matrix of 80 motorized sliders reminiscent of a control room. Each slider corresponds to a variable, with its name engraved on a plate. At the ends of the sliders, the “+” and “-” signs indicate the stakes. While some variables are directly inspired by those developed by Buckminster, others, new ones, shed light on the major issues of our time.

In this device, the sliders act as both inputs and outputs. Visitors are invited to interact with the work and playfully stabilize the world by changing the value of each variable. While making an initial change they soon realize that all the sliders correlate with each other and that the variables form changing patterns without their intervention, suggesting interference from other agencies.

Bio

  • Photo: Vandy Studio

    Fragmentin

    CH

    Fragmentin is an artist collective based in Lausanne, Switzerland, founded in 2014 and composed of three ECAL alumni: Laura Nieder (1991, Lausanne), David Colombini (1989, Lausanne) and Marc Dubois (*1985, Basel).

    At the crossroads of art and engineering, Fragmentin’s work scrutinizes the impact of the digital on everyday life. Fragmentin’s works are often conceived as spaces for discussion on crucial contemporary themes such as climate change.

Credits

Fragmentin (Laura Nieder, David Colombini, Marc Dubois)
The original edition of G80 was commissioned by Mudac (Lausanne)

With the support of Pro Helvetia