Earth has been devastated by the impacts of climate change. Sea levels have risen, engulfing large swaths of land in salt water, driving people inland- simultaneously rising temperatures and over-farming due to land constraints have resulted in rampant desertification. Capitalizing on the world’s distress, a multinational corporate conglomerate- the EDN company, has risen to the task of revitalizing the earth through a global geoengineering initiative. Their research results in a series of geoengineering machines: the ATMOs, which form an ecologically governing network. the machines and technology evolve alongside the landscape, transitioning from mechanical servants to biomechanical giants. As the technologies demonstrate their success and transform the earth, the EDN company’s machine network becomes a new governing superpower, dictating the ecological well being of the entire planet.
The Core
As our technologies have evolved, humans have exercised more control over our numerous environments. With little of the “natural” world left around us we must confront a series of defining questions for ourselves: If we are unbound by historical barriers of nature, what kind of world should we create for ourselves? How should we govern and manage a world of fabricated environments? What should our attitude and perception towards change and evolution look like?
The Fifth Genesis Foreword looks at a world near the beginning of a radical transition, filled with new uncertainties. Rather than fear the coming changes, Ryan chooses to embrace them, filled with a sense of child-like excitement.
The World
Ryan, a recently divorced botanist, has decided to reinvent her life by returning to her family farm. Land desolate and unhappy with the state of the abandoned home she decides to remodel the house when a large-scale corporate restoration project is begun adjacent to her land. In an attempt to reinvent herself she begins painting machines and collecting specimens from the rapid restoration project. She watches as the land comes back to life, then quickly evolves into something utterly new.
The Experience
Scheduled for a fall 2020 release, the Fifth Genesis Foreword is an immersive VR narrative experience set in a near future rural America. Checkout the project's development here.
The Art
Serving as a window into the heart of the Fifth Genesis, this small process collection exhibits fragments of the game’s aesthetic evolution and larger world as a whole. Much of the development revolved around the unique evolution of the geoengineering machines and their relationship to the environment.
