The paradoxical survival of the bottom-level robot laborers in urban expansion - when operating stably, it is the "order nerve" that maintains the operation of the system. But when an accident occurs, it is a "chaos virus" that must be eliminated in the eyes of power. What happens when a robot trying to repair a glitch is considered a glitch itself?
Project Video
Abstract
Shanghai 2050, a space and time when the overgrowth of urbanization crushes the living space of the lower classes, creating a chaotic machine of plastic, dirt juxtaposed with clean, orderly cityscape.
This project continues the critical vision of the Cyberpunk tradition, creating a dystopic urban story through animation. It tells a story of a delivery robot, at once a victim and a maintainer of the operation of the city. In the story, he embarks on a journey to chase after the goods that are stolen. As he struggles to restore order, he faces violent suppression by the authority, realizing that he is the "astrayed." The juxtaposition of two screens weaves together this narrative form the perspective the delivery robot and the perspective of logistics. Via the story, I want to raise central questions and speculation of our shared future in the age of planetary urbanization: How the development of modern cities alternates between chaos and order, leading to greater integration and systematization? How will the city reconcile with its past ruins and future development? What will become of delivery workers--the embodied infrastructure of urban flow--and the social classes they represent?
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