Seizing The Means of Rendering

An essay for Amateur Cities on the potentially radical politics of rendering software.

The tools are difficult but they are multiplying, Google Sketchup is becoming more sophisticated as a free alternative to other engines. Beyond traditional rendering platforms, Minecraft has already proven its worth as an educational and imaginative platform, allowing players to stretch the bounds of the rules of the universe.

It is not clear what a radical utopian rendering culture would look like, nor exactly how these things would act outside of the existing culture of architectural renderings, developing things not to appeal to developers or critics. Sascha Pohflepp’s recent work with physics engines, provokes thoughts of a Dr Morel-style world where rendering technology frees us from the bounds of the physical universe rather than constructing more visions of monoliths and shopping centres. Imaging these worlds in the context of cheapening immersive and virtual realities opens up massive possibilities for radically reforming reality and constructing radically different spaces.

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