FILMS DE COMPETITION

Mikhail Maksimov explores the mapping of potential realities. Using video game programming techniques like simulations and 3D animation, he creates scenarios in which he puts ideological and philosophical theories to work, a testing of possible worlds.

Taking the digital interface as a mediator between producer and consumer, Maksimov uses ‘transmedia storytelling’, a form of narrative-making that develops across formats, from film to installation to smartphone apps. For Maksimov, if reality serves as a model for gaming, animation and interactive artworks could also be used to influence reality.

Alongside Russian Mysticism, theosophy and pop culture, Maksimov’s interests include gravity, railroad transport, and forensics. His videos contain a sub-narrative detailing sophisticated systems of movement and infrastructure, that serve as metaphors for the logics of political machinations, human life cycles, and entire ecologies of thought. These preoccupations are part of a broad inquiry into the world around us: “It’s interesting to excerpt the chunks, the concentration of life and kind of hold it in your hands, examine it.”