Arcadia Inc. is a work of speculative fiction which investigates the commodification of nature through computer-generated landscape photography. In observing context erasure as the main mechanism behind re-programming images with new meanings, the work proposes a new model for obtaining the type of nature imagery meant for brand-based visual communication: a group of virtual beings which photograph scenic beauty in a real-time simulation. In an era when visual culture is created increasingly through technological automation, the work raises important questions about the future of image making.

https://arcadia.photography

Cezar Mocan is a Lisbon-based artist and computer programmer interested in the interplay between technology and the natural landscape. Using narrative generative systems—animated videos of infinite duration, real-time simulations built in game engines or other software—he creates worlds that recontextualize aspects of digital culture we take for granted, often in absurd ways, while investigating the power structures which mediate our relationship with technology. Drawing on media archaeology and art history, his research process traces the origins of our current thought patterns around (technological) progress.

https://cezar.io

Some of his past works have been exhibited with Inter/Access (Toronto), Office Impart (Berlin), Onassis ONX Studio (New York) SPRING BREAK Art Show (New York), Currents New Media (Center for Contemporary Art Santa Fe), BASE (Istanbul), Romanian Design Week (Bucharest) and The Wrong Biennale. His real-time simulation work, Arcadia Inc. was recognized as a 2021 winner of the Lumen Prize in Art and Technology. Cezar holds a B.S. in Computer Science (2016) from Yale University and an M.P.S. in Interactive Telecommunications (2021) from New York University, where he also served as a research resident and adjunct professor.