Brave New World: Constructions in the Virtual Realm

Since the first utopian designs of the Renaissance, constructions of artificial worlds have been based on a modular system which, by abolishing individual differences, promises the spatial fulfilment of a brave new world for a multitude of people. To reduce endless possibilities to calculable units occurs both in the utopian and the virtual realm: both ideal and virtual cities are founded on a unified matrix and leave noticeably little creative room, historically and technically, in their conception. What is expressed in the virtual world of The Sims, for example, is the supposed emotional expression of something which is already inscribed into the tool of a computer-aided design and which cannot be without consequences for artistic form and content. The artist is given a tool which forces him or her to operate according to certain modi and carries the temptation to limit oneself to a minimised vocabulary for reasons of simplicity. In the virtual realm, form and content are no longer spontaneous artistic expression but bound to a technical knowledge which is actually a prerogative for the access to "artistic freedom".