Mimesis
2026 · Interactive simulation, in progress
An interactive simulation of collective behavior, social influence, and the construction of memory.
Mimesis is an interactive simulation that explores how individual behaviors become collective rituals, and how attention, imitation, and repetition shape what a society considers meaningful.
Set within an artificial landscape populated by autonomous inhabitants, the work presents a fictional society in which customs emerge without established traditions or shared histories. Small, seemingly insignificant gestures circulate through the population, gradually becoming social conventions. Certain behaviors gain visibility and spread, while others disappear. Through these processes, the inhabitants construct a collective identity shaped less by individual intention than by the continuous observation and imitation of others.
The environment operates as a living archive, where attention determines what is preserved. Places that attract repeated activity retain their visual and historical detail, while neglected areas gradually fade, fragment, or become compressed into incomplete memories. What the society remembers is therefore inseparable from what it chooses to observe.
Visitors enter this evolving system as both observers and participants. Their movements, attention, and interactions influence the behaviors of the inhabitants and the persistence of the landscape itself. As the simulation unfolds, the distinction between individual agency and collective influence becomes increasingly uncertain.
Drawing on the psychological mechanisms of social imitation and the contemporary circulation of images, trends, and performed identities, Mimesis examines how cultural meaning emerges through repetition and visibility. The work proposes a world in which nothing is inherently significant, yet anything can become meaningful through the collective act of paying attention.
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