Dreamlands: Immersive Cinema and Art, 1905–2016

Hito Steyerl’s immersive three-dimensional grid is modeled on motion-capture studios, where body movements are recorded and translated for use in computer-generated imagery. The video on view within also features a motion-capture studio. In that one, workers are forced to dance in order to generate sunlight—though they also dance as a form of resistance to their data-mined servitude. The video shifts between mock newscasts, drone footage, and personal narratives, moving between different levels of reality like a video game. Simultaneously playful and critical, the work hints at the utopian potential of the Internet while also critiquing its use for surveillance and economic exploitation.