Through multimedia installations and audiovisual experiments, Pussykrew explores spaces that lie between digital and analog reality. This hybrid reality houses fluid identities and constantly reinvents itself as a permanent experiment. We asked the two digital artists eight questions about simulation.
To what extent does simulation play a role in your work process?
Everything is a simulation. We became interested in digital and media art because of hyperreality. Deep down, it was a kind of escape. Reality never satisfied us; especially the one we were born into didn't offer many possibilities. The search for an escape route was the only choice.
Although technology doesn't have answers to problems and isn't a solution, in the time we grew up and consumed culture, it felt like this was the future we wanted to be a part of. A different future than the one waiting for us in our Polish homeland. For us, the internet definitely changed everything, but even back then, around 1995, there was a unique power in watching hours of VIVA Zwei music videos recorded on VHS tapes. The birth of technological images, expanded cinema, cyberpunk, demoscene, and early electronic music was the utopia we believed in. It was naive to think that way, but it was enough to motivate us to find our way out. Simulation is the core of our art because we were never interested in the real. The physical is just an excuse, it's the bait to draw people into our worlds. We present our creations as something familiar, but at the same time, we distort their meanings and their representation. We use material objects as vehicles, triggers, and as an entry point into our simulations.
What values and aspirations do you communicate in your art?
Within our creative practice, we connect art with technology, physicality and virtuality, mainstream and niche, utopia and dystopia. We build new realities, expanded landscapes, interstitial spaces, augment reality, and foster a diversity of thought in the tech and design world.
We are self-taught artists, directors, and creative technologists who explore alternative futures where all identities and forms of expression are celebrated. We try to make the future as fluid as possible. As digital nomads, we move in physical and virtual spaces, keep in touch across various platforms, and collaborate with international communities. These experiences influence our creative practice and give us a broader perspective. We believe that the artwork is more profound when accompanied by lived, shared experiences. The process of building and creating can be more valuable than the result itself. Access to digital tools has, in fact, had a liberating effect on us on many levels. That's why we want to encourage others to gain more control over their own lives and develop their creative careers. We are artists and catalysts at the same time. We have always wanted to live in a world where technological progress overcomes conservative values and systemic oppression, enabling individuals to enhance their capabilities.
Does simulation help you communicate your values/your message?
Yes, because we simulate realities and future situations, and thereby create new ones. We are big fans of punk, so we never give up and don't conform to the status quo. We prefer to find our own ways and circumvent the rules. That's also why our creative practice is so fluid, metaphorically and literally. It is very symbolic and personal. Our initial interest stemmed from pop culture, technology, and the body. We were fascinated by deforming, distorting, and moshing images. Our creative practice was never about photorealism – it was about hyper-surrealism. Last year, we started designing a series of speculative life forms, a post-human species that we create through VR sculpting. The VR sculpting experience itself is extremely physical and transformative. We still wonder what the future of our physical presence looks like and how our flesh will evolve. Our minds are like a blender that we fill with our inspirations – Ghost in the Shell, Videodrome, Kremaster, art-house and queer erotica, and so on. We spit out a bodily fluid, mercury-like goo, a visual overload – this is perhaps the most accurate description of our maximalist approach.
What do you mean by maximalist?
We are obsessed with opulent CGI, a hyper-digital luxury aesthetic, a combination of Neo-Baroque and Renaissance art. Most of the animation work we see is usually quite minimalist; many of the "real," traditionally trained designers and CGI artists would surely hate our work because it makes your eyes bleed like liquid metal.
Do you clearly distinguish between reality and virtuality?
We are not sure how all of this translates into a “real world.” For us, everything is so interconnected that the virtual has an impact on the real world and vice versa. We spend a lot of time in digitality and virtuality, sometimes it feels more real than the “actual” experience. We can't wait for spatial computing and all the “dystopian” scenarios of micro-implants augmenting our bodies. We are already leaving behind the nightmare of surveillance and data mining.
To what extent do you simulate realities?
We combine surreal fantasy with science fiction and current themes. But we never tell stories in an obvious way; instead, we focus on atmosphere and emotional affect. Our images can be "beautiful" and appealing, but there is always an overwhelming sense of immense uncertainty. We present realities that are limited in the transition process. We try to create open images that give the audience the opportunity to depict their own stories in our worlds. We influence the realities we share, but we never dictate a path or give a clear answer. For us, it is important to leave the action to the viewers. It may sound cheesy, but control over one's own decisions is what we respect most. It reflects our IRL (in real life) values. We ourselves didn't have this luxury for a long time, and sometimes we still lack it. But the freedom to be yourself and feel comfortable in your environment is, unfortunately, not something everyone can afford.
What is the appeal of (computer) simulations for you?
It is a dream that our awkward bodies, our flesh, and our physical environment do not restrict us. It is a dream that one can influence one's life and express oneself as one wishes. It is about controlling chaos and creating areas that could not exist in a world anchored in fixed physical systems.
What new aesthetic possibilities do (computer) simulations offer you?
Currently, we are exploring extended realities (XR) and creating interactive real-time environments. Friends often ask us to create a virtual, augmented reality where they could "live." There is something visceral and very physical in our work that people are drawn to. One of our goals is to create an open-ended cinematic game. A boundless world that evolves with the player. We've been talking about this for years, but we always think holistically and uncompromisingly. That's why we wait until the technology that could help us achieve our goals becomes accessible to mortals like us. It's computer simulations and, more generally, the tools we use that advance us creatively. It sounds frightening to many, but we cannot wait for the moment when virtuality becomes indistinguishable from our reality and we might be able to immerse ourselves there forever. The only question is what will come first – the simulation in which we can live eternally, or the habitable world that is the byproduct of the simulation we yearn for.