Dystoptimal is a smartphone-app.
Dystoptimal creates dystopias in order to focus on the qualities of reality.
Dystoptimal animates citizens and visitors to experience the city of Graz from a new perspective.
Dystoptimal creates virtual realities that can be experienced at specific
landmark-points in each of the 17 districts of Graz / Austria.
The user will be immersed in a dystopian 360-degree environment via a smartphone or tablet which maps a possible future over the actual, current urban topography.
The scenes are animated and locked to specific markers in order to align with and and imitate any movement the user wishes to make (Up, Down, Left, Right). Additionally a specific sound-design will be created in order to deepen the immersive character of the 'mini-movies'. (3D-Sound)
Once the user dis-engages the app or simply puts down his smart-phone he or she should experience the city and its qualities, its aesthetics and 'natural' environments from a new, refreshed and holistic point of view.
The scenes progress chronologically to the year 2120 and touch on a variety of issues, ranging from big-data-surveillance, climate change or artificial intelligence to socio-economic stratification developments and hyper-consumerism. These topics, while already palpable in our present time are pushed to the extreme and - with the creation of websites for fictional companies, that are part of the DYSTOPTIMAL-Narrative - the lines between real and fake are blurred even more. The user peeks through a keyhole (his smart-phone) into a not so distant future. A future he or she still has the power to shape, if the right questions are asked.
Additionally, the city can be explored in a 'game-app' kind of way by guiding users to unknown and/or less commonly frequented places, thereby opening up new aspects of an urban environment.
www.dystoptimal.com
Fake-companies being part of the DYSTOPTIMAL-Narrative:
www.happycorp.se
www.nestlever.com
www.qubit.casa
www.homeafterhome.
www.hypersteirern.at
