Worlding

What is a World? How do I create one? How do I keep it alive? And when should I set it free?There is an unnatural art emerging, ripe for our strange and complex times: Worlding - the practice of creating dynamic systems that take on a life of their own.Now in print for the first time, WORLDING is an essential handbook for artists, gamers, entrepreneurs and creators navigating uncertain times.Expanded and updated from prior incarnations, this contemporary cult classic draws on the author's experience developingcomplex multi-agent video game worlds. It offers practical methods for building and sustaining Worlds through four creative personas: the Director, Cartoonist, Hacker, and Emissary. Part philosophical reflection, part creative guide, WORLDING explores ways to navigate darkness and sustain agency in a time of unraveling old realities and emerging weird ones.Ian Cheng is an artist and founder based in New York. He has exhibited at museums internationally including MoMA, Serpentine Galleries, Venice Biennale, Whitney Museum of American Art.Since 2012, Cheng has produced a series of simulations exploring an agent's capacity to deal with an ever-changing environment, culminating in the Emissaries trilogy. He is the creator of BOB (Bag of Beliefs), an AI-driven creature whose personality, body, and life story evolve across exhibitions. In 2024 Cheng founded Opponent, a new company building animal-level AI agents for kids.