Birth of Venus 2.1.1

Title: Birth of Venus 2.1.1

Media: GameArt (installation)

Year: 2021-2023

Birth of Venus is a GameArt piece set in a speculative future where the boundaries between human and non-human lifeforms have catastrophically dissolved. In the wake of widespread ecological and cognitive disorientation, an advanced AI system offers a series of unsupervised psychological conditioning simulators, developed for those struggling to adapt. Individuals who voluntarily undergo this training are more likely to overcome symptoms such as narcissism, delusion, or emotional instability—ultimately becoming optimized agents for interfacing between artificial intelligence and what remains of the human world.

The core module, Birth of Venus 2.1.1, represents a quintessential training scenario. From a first-person perspective, players navigate an infinite space simulated by the “Other”, where they are prompted to confront the paradoxes of first-person narratives shaped by anthropocentric logic. The game’s only mechanic is itself a structural contradiction: the more the player attempts to move forward, the further they are propelled backward.

This paradox is embedded within a Möbius loop architecture, in which spatial and directional logic collapse into inversion. The “forward” key is deliberately mapped to a backward motion, rendering every act of progression an impossible endeavor. Within this recursive design, Birth of Venus becomes a theater of perception, narration, and agency—where adaptation is no longer mastery, but the surrender of control itself.

Installation view: