American technologist Ray Kurzweil proposed “The Law of Acceleration Returns”, and described the exponential growth of technological changes that will lead to the Singularity — machine intelligence will surpass human intelligence. Not long before the publish of this theory, Kowloon Walled City in Hong Kong, an ungoverned outlaw zone, nicknamed City of Darkness and City of Crime, was demolished and ended its issue of governance and decades of improvisational growth, and thereafter continued its life as a cyberpunk image and a heavily burdened cultural icon.
In the story Confidential Records, the virtual underground city inherits these characteristics and functions as a shelter and final frontier to fight against the AI regime. In the future, as futurist Ray Kurzweil predicted, Pure Blood Humans revolted in various ways such as cyber warfare, illegal army, assassin team, etc. Human beings work as a community phenomenon, “bombing” the city aboveground and attempting to take back sole sovereignty. While in the eyes of the majority, in this case, the artificial intelligence that is being produced day and night, is nothing but a practice of terrorism, and political violence against “civilians”. This series of works is an imagination of the future, as well as a reflection of current times.
Vvzela Kook’s works combine technology with her artistic practice to reproduce and convert urban cityscapes into an integrated virtual experience, guiding the audience on a cybernetic journey. Mixing delicate drawings, 3D printing, and video game optics in her videos shows the wide range of media and materials the artist uses to visually translate her research-based projects.
