MULTINODE_METAGAME, Reconstructing History Is Not A Game

multinode

September 11, 1973. Palacio de la Moneda, Santiago. During the bloody coup backed by the United States and led by the country’s future dictator, General Pinochet, former president Salvador Allende took his own life with a single gunshot. This last extreme political act not only meant the death of Allende but also an end to democratic politics in Chile and the vast program of reform that he had initiated. Among the many cultural, political and economic projects promoted by Allende was a program called Cybersyn. This was intended to help streamline the country’s economy by creating a dynamic system that could coordinate the production, storage and transportation of goods, integrating requests and actual needs. The system would have run “online” thanks to an artificial neuronal structure. The interactive installation MULTINODE_METAGAME by Chilean artists Catalina Ossa Holmgren and Enrique Rivera Gallardo, rebuilds the futuristic interface of the Opsroom, the Cybersyn’s control room, giving new life to the concept of interconnectivity: communication in real time between multiple systems through the use of computer technology. MULTINODE_METAGAME is a complex user installation conceived of as an interactive documentary film, where the visitors can create their own narrative path to understand the project, communicate between installations and contribute their own testimonies. Users are able to interface with the installation on three time levels: the past, drawing on historical information about the original project; the present, with realtime communication between users; and future, with users able to extend the installation data by inputting their own knowledge. Benedetta Sabatini

 

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