Arcadia Inc: IPO
Arcadia Inc. is a work of speculative fiction which investigates the commodification of nature through computer-generated landscape photography. In observing context erasure as the main mechanism behind re-programming images with new meanings, the work proposes a new model for obtaining the type of nature imagery meant for brand-based visual communication: a group of virtual beings which photograph scenic beauty in a real-time simulation, organized as a fictional company which produces stock images of natural environments. In an era when visual culture is created increasingly through technological automation, the work raises important questions about the future of image making.
The simulated component of the work, arcadia.exe, presents an expansive, bucolic digital landscape in which a group of three humanoid agents – Ansel A.I., Claudia L., and Ralph W.E. – walk on mathematically determined paths informed by historical tropes; for example, Ansel A.I. is programmed to always walk West, while Claudia L. is programmed to photograph nature from above. The three agents take photographs of their surroundings at significant moments of their journeys. Subsequently, the images are uploaded in real time to the company’s website, becoming Arcadia Inc.’s core offering.
The Arcadia Inc: IPO series marks the company’s first public sale of images. Six of the photographs produced by Ansel A.I., Claudia L. and Ralph W.E. between 2022 and 2024 are presented in conjunction with videos revealing the moment of their creation. Each of the six framed photograph and video pairings are accompanied by a Synthetic Landscape Asset Partnership Agreement, a legal document which ensures the strategic alignment between the company and the future owners of its images.
You can visit the Arcadia Inc. website at arcadia.photography, or view an ambient slideshow of its most recent photographs on Arcadia Now.
Cezar Mocan
Arcadia Inc: IPO, 2021/2025
Each Arcadia Inc: IPO consists of three digital components:
Arcadia Inc: IPO (Asset) png,
Arcadia Inc: IPO (Provenance) mp4 video,
Arcadia Inc: IPO (Agreement), jpg,
as well as a framed print of Arcadia Inc: IPO (Asset), 21 × 28 cm
Price: 1.200 €
Cezar Mocan
Arcadia Inc: IPO #1, 2021/2025
framed print of Arcadia Inc: IPO (Asset), 21 x 28 cm 1.200,00 EUR (incl. VAT)
inquire
Cezar Mocan
Arcadia Inc: IPO #2, 2021/2025
framed print of Arcadia Inc: IPO (Asset), 21 x 28 cm 1.200,00 EUR (incl. VAT)
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Cezar Mocan
Arcadia Inc: IPO #3, 2021/2025
framed print of Arcadia Inc: IPO (Asset), 21 x 28 cm 1.200,00 EUR (incl. VAT)
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Cezar Mocan
Arcadia Inc: IPO #4, 2021/2025
framed print of Arcadia Inc: IPO (Asset), 21 x 28 cm 1.200,00 EUR (incl. VAT)
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Cezar Mocan
Arcadia Inc: IPO #5, 2021/2025
framed print of Arcadia Inc: IPO (Asset), 21 x 28 cm 1.200,00 EUR (incl. VAT)
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Cezar Mocan
Arcadia Inc: IPO #6, 2021/2025
framed print of Arcadia Inc: IPO (Asset), 21 x 28 cm 1.200,00 EUR (incl. VAT)
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About Cezar Mocan
Cezar Mocan (b.1993) is a Lisbon-based artist and computer programmer interested in the interplay between technology and the natural landscape. Using narrative generative systems—animated videos of infinite duration, real-time simulations built in game engines or other software—he creates worlds that recontextualize aspects of digital culture we take for granted, often in absurd ways, while investigating the power structures which mediate our relationship with technology. He is interested in the built infrastructures which enable our digital lives, as well as the ways in which their presence in the natural landscape affects our perception: the moments when utility becomes nostalgia. Drawing on media archaeology and art history, his research process traces the origins of our current thought patterns around (technological) progress.
EDUCATION
2019 – 2021
M.P.S. New Media Art (Interactive Telecommunications Program), New York University
2012 – 2016
B.S. Computer Science, Yale University
RESIDENCIES
2025–2026
STUDIOTOPIA Residency, Dublin & Lisbon
2024
Glitch Residency, Chateau du Fey, France
Antikythera Cognitive Infrastructures Studio, London
2023
VCA Residency • online
2021–2022
Research Residency at New York University’s Interactive Telecommunications Program, New York
2020
NYC Media Lab Residency, in collaboration with Cy Kim, New York
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2025
Synthetic Wilds, Athens Digital Art Festival (ADAF), Athens
Down the Silicon Meadow, OFFICE IMPART + Blueshift Gallery • online
2024
[Hypertext](hyperlink), Yale University ISOVIST Gallery, curated by Alvin Ashiatey, New Haven, CT
Desire for the Useless, Simultan Festival, Timisoara, Romania
symbiocene/anthropocene, WIP Festival, CYENS Nicosia, Cyprus
Public Spam, a public art project curated by Gabriela Mateescu and Taitzel Ticalos, Bucharest, Romania
Aura Bonding, Orb / Lens, curated by Stina Gustafsson • online
Arcadia Inc., Panke Gallery /rosa, part of Transmediale Vorspiel, curated by Robert Sakrowsk, Berlin (s)
Matrix of the Not-Yet, Underground Art and Design, curated by Amy Jiang • online
Beyond Human, Artemis Gallery, curated by Kirsten Eggers and Manuel Mendonca, Lisbon
2023
Sandbox Mode, OFFICE IMPART, curated by OFFICE IMPART, Stina Gustafsson and Maria Paula Fernandez, Berlin
Reverse Tar Pit, Onassis ONX Studio, curated by Mark Ramos, Don Hanson & Sammie Veeler, New York
Desktop Studies, CAV Gallery, curated by Spam Index, Bucharest
The Wrong Biennale 06 • online
Tellurian Traversals, Putty’s Coronation Gallery, curated by David Temchulla, New York
Media Art Festival Arad x Ready Media, Museum of Art Arad, curated by kinema.ikon, Arad, Romania
Romanian Design Week, curated by The Institute, Bucharest
GUI / GOOEY, Plexus Projects, curated by Laura Splan • online & New York
Dynamic Links, www.spam-index.com, curated by Nico Mures • online
2022
Scripting • theBlanc Gallery, curated by Elvin Ou and Morgan Mueller, New York
Currents New Media, Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe
Kampüste Dijital Sana, Akbank Sanat, curated by Ali Kerem Bilge, Istanbul
Sculpted in Our Image, Forged in Our Minds, Inter/Access, curated by Tristan Sauer • online & Toronto
2021
Soft Power, SPRING/BREAK Art Show, curated by Lizzy Chiappini, New York, NY (s)
Lumen Prize for Art and Technology Student Award, London
