A festival dedicated to the virtual

Octobre Numérique returns this year to Arles with a new concept and a new team. The organizer Faire Monde, a pioneer of the latest trends at the crossroads of art and video games, the creation of virtual worlds and real-time 3D technology, invites the general public and professionals from October 6th to 24th to discover the metaverse as a space of prefiguration to build together an inclusive, sustainable and participatory world.

Faire Monde is an association of cultural actors based in Arles and in the southern region: Actes Sud, Chroniques, Extramentale, Fisheye, Fabbula.

Theo Triantafyllidis
Video games and real-time simulations

Exhibition view, Église des Trinitaires, Arles, 2021 | Theo Triantafyllidis, Pastoral, 2019

Theo Triantafyllidis, Radicalization Pipeline, 2021

Theo Triantafyllidis, Exhibition view, Église des Trinitaires, Arles, 2021

Exhibition view, Église des Trinitaires, Arles, 2021 | Theo Triantafyllidis, Radicalization Pipeline, 2021

Exhibition view, Église des Trinitaires, Arles, 2021 | Theo Triantafyllidis, Smoke Break, 2018

For his first solo exhibition in France, artist Theo Triantafyllidis takes over the 17th Century late Gothic Chapelle des Trinitaires in Arles, France to create an immersive environment featuring a series of recent software works. On an invitation by Fabien Siouffi, the artistic director of Octobre Numérique – Faire Monde, the exhibition explores themes of political radicalization and the representation of nature through the lens of video game culture.

A permanent simulated sunset, together with the architecture of the Chapel itself, create an immersive exhibition space. Within that, two seemingly different worlds collide. Near the Chapel entrance, a pop-up scaffolding structure, as seen in sport games and political rallies, sets the stage for the large projection of Radicalization Pipeline (2021). Deeper into the chancel of the Chapel, the mood shifts and we find a physical hay sandbox installation and Pastoral (2019) a video game that invites the player to frolic in an idyllic landscape and contemplate on the connections between gamification, fantasy, and extremist ideologies that internet culture has accelerated.

Faire Monde(s)
An exhibition of artist’s meta worlds

Faire Monde(s), exhibition view, Espace van Gogh, 2021 | Diana Toucedo, Camille & Ulysse, 2021

Faire Monde(s), exhibition view, Espace van Gogh, 2021 | The Institute of Queer Ecology, H.O.R.I.Z.O.N., 2020

Faire Monde(s), exhibition view, Espace van Gogh, 2021 | Joey Holder, Abyssal Seeker [Benthic Zone], 2021

Faire Monde(s), exhibition view, Espace van Gogh, 2021 | Most Dismal Swamp, Swamp Protocol, 2021

Faire Monde(s), exhibition view, Espace van Gogh, 2021 | Marija Avramovic & Sam Twidale (Xenoangel), Supreme, 2021

Faire Monde(s), exhibition view, Espace van Gogh, 2021 | Keiken, The Life Game, 2021

Presented in collaboration with Klima Magazine and Fabbula, the exhibition Faire Monde(s) shows the multiple ways in which creators are seizing the virtual to fabricate new ways of being in the world. Drawing on the speculative philosophy of Vinciane Despret and Donna Haraway, the exhibition juggles with the idea of an uncertain future where speculative realism, virtualities and hybrid ecologies are mixed. The exhibition presents metaverse artists such as in a variety of formats (games, VR, projection, audio). Like a swamp, Faire Monde(s) intends to show various speculative currents of thought and creative proposals around the virtual.

With Giulia Essyad, Joey Holder, The Institute of Queer Ecology, Most Dismal Swamp, Rindon Johnson, Keiken, Omsk Social Club, Marija Avramovic & Sam Twidale (Xenoangel).

TVSF, The Very Scary Forest
Saradibiza x Extramentale

Invited by Octobre Numérique, Extramentale presents the video game TVSF, The Very Scary Forest, by Saradibiza. This mini game is built like a terrifying nursery rhyme, laden with a certain cynicism. Through fantastic universes mixing 3D and 2D, Joe, a father fox, must find his missing baby. On his way, he will meet several characters, including Fragila, a car in tears, who will guide him to complete his mission.

Between diary, film, installation and video game, TVSF, The Very Scary Forest was also the fruit of a teamwork constituted by the circle of friends of Saradibiza: Naia Combary and Gil Gharbi (co-writing), Oklou (music), Lucien Krampf (sound design), JulietteGelli ~ and Aleksandr Kontini (scenography), Amal Guichard (digital drawing), Sébastien Rabaste (3D sculpture), Ana Madjison (translation), Géraldine Baux (voice recording), Ana Madjison, Christopher Soetan, Casey MQ, Gil Gharbi (character voices).

An Extramentale production led by curators Julia Marchand and Louise Nicolas de Lamballerie.

Opening days:
An international symposium on artistic metaverse & clean NFT

From October 6th to 8th, leading international experts and professionals congregate in Arles for conferences, workshops, roundtables, case studies and demos on the latest trends for art in the metaverse and the emerging practices of eco-responsible NFT. Presented by Fabien Siouffi, artistic director of Octobre Numérique – Faire Monde and Adrien Ohannessian, founder of Renaissance NFT.

With John Karp (NFT Morning), Sébastien Borget (The Sandbox), Pau Waelder (curateur), (DSLcollection, AiKa), Jean-Sébastien Beaucamps (La Collection), Obvious, Agoria, Mado XR, Theo Triantafyllidis, Keiken, Spencer Phipps (Phipps International), Antonine Scali (Klima Magazine), Julia Marchand (Extramentale), Arles Creative, École MoPA.

Watch the conference recordings on our Youtube channel</p

Partners

Octobre Numérique is a label and festival initiated by the agglomeration community of Arles Crau Camargue Montagnette which highlights the actors and new digital practices in the fields of creation and technological innovation, offering the public a strong cultural animation on the territory in the fall.

Funders: Communauté d’agglomération ACCM, Ville d’Arles, Département des Bouches-du-Rhône, Région Sud
Faire Monde Association: Actes Sud, Chroniques, Extramentale, Fabbula, Fisheye
Curatorial Partners: Klima magazine, Renaissance NFT
Technological Partners: Epic MegaGrants, Intel, LG, Vive, VR’TIG.0

Team

Festival Director: Victoire Thevenin
Artistic Director: Fabien Siouffi
Head of production: Elisa Klein
Head of communication: Aurore Kinzonzi

About

Fabbula is a cultural practice dedicated to immersive media (virtual reality, augmented reality, mixed reality). We curate art shows, represent artists and advise cultural institutions.