Simulated Life Experience

The Engine Room, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand, 2024

This work was included in the group exhibition The Chronicle of <a New Love Order> at The Engine Room, curated by the collective The chronicle of < _______ >, whose members include Jenny Gillam, Eugene Hansen (Maniapoto) and Bruce E. Phillips. The work explores the concept of a Simulated Life Experience (SLE) - a scenario in which perception is shaped by artificial systems rather than direct reality. The diagram outlines a speculative model where a brain–computer interface (BCI), guided by artificial intelligence, mediates vision through the eyes, generating simulations that appear indistinguishable from physical objects. These simulations are not encountered as screens or overlays, but as seemingly real forms occupying existing space, operating through the logic of augmented reality while bypassing conventional visual mediation.

The sculptural work translates this model into physical form. Using contrasting materials and abstracted geometry, it presents a three-dimensional manifestation of the system: cognition, vision, and simulated environment rendered as a balanced but precarious structure. Rather than illustrating technology literally, the sculpture treats the components symbolically, allowing material, scale, and spatial relationship to stand in for processes of perception, control, and belief. Together, the diagram and sculpture present the same idea in parallel: one analytical, the other embodied, prompting reflection on how reality is constructed and perceived in mediated futures.