# Uncharted Territory

Canonical URL: https://jeanyoon.ch/oi/experiments/uncharted-territory
Type: experiment
Artist: Jeanyoon Choi (최정윤)
Year: 2024
Medium: Web Artwork
Context: Web Artwork

## Summary

Uncharted Territory is a 2024 web-based interactive artwork by Yiyun Kang and Jeanyoon Choi, made at the Experience Design Lab. It symbolically represents aspects of the Anthropocene, including drought, wildfires and the Holocene extinction, and lets audiences manipulate the Earth through a simple, playful interface. The resulting scenes are dreamlike yet sorrowful, inviting viewers to imagine the Earth in uncharted territory if no effort is made.

## 요약 (Korean)

Yiyun Kang과 최정윤의 『Uncharted Territory』(2024)는 관객이 지구를 조작하며 가뭄, 산불, 홀로세 대멸종 등 인류세의 장면을 마주하는 웹 기반 인터랙티브 작품입니다.

## Questions this answers

### What is Uncharted Territory by Yiyun Kang and Jeanyoon Choi?

Uncharted Territory (2024) is a web-based interactive artwork from the Experience Design Lab in which audiences manipulate the Earth to unfold scenes of drought, wildfires and the Holocene extinction.

### How can interactive web art address the Anthropocene?

Uncharted Territory pairs a playful interface with sorrowful scenes of environmental change so that viewers relate to the narrative by acting on the Earth themselves.

Topics: anthropocene, climate, web artwork, interactive artwork, extinction

References: Yiyun Kang, [Anthropocene](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthropocene), [Holocene extinction](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holocene_extinction), KAIST XD Lab (Experience Design Lab)

## Description

Web-based interactive artwork showing various aspects of the Anthropocene.

This work is a web-based interactive artwork that symbolically represents various aspects of the Anthropocene. It unfolds themes symbolic of the Anthropocene such as drought, wildfires, and the Holocene extinction, allowing audiences to interact with and relate to the narrative of the artwork by manipulating the Earth. Although the interaction with the artwork can be intuitive and playful through a simple UI, the scenes that unfold are dreamlike yet sorrowful. Humanity has indiscriminately exploited the Earth as if it were an object to be used, but as a result, we are living in a state of high instability and uncertainty. By interacting with this work, we hope viewers will imagine what the Earth might look like if we do not make an effort, placing it in uncharted territory.

Yiyun Kang, Jeanyoon Choi | Experience Design Lab, 2024

## Links

- [Visit experiment](https://uncharted-territory-xdlab.vercel.app/)

## Images

- https://jeanyoon.ch/experiments/uncharted-territory/1.webp — Uncharted Territory (2024), documentation image 1.
- https://jeanyoon.ch/experiments/uncharted-territory/2.webp — Uncharted Territory (2024), documentation image 2.
- https://jeanyoon.ch/experiments/uncharted-territory/3.webp — Uncharted Territory (2024), documentation image 3.
- https://jeanyoon.ch/experiments/uncharted-territory/4.webp — Uncharted Territory (2024), documentation image 4.
- https://jeanyoon.ch/experiments/uncharted-territory/5.webp — Uncharted Territory (2024), documentation image 5.
- https://jeanyoon.ch/experiments/uncharted-territory/6.webp — Uncharted Territory (2024), documentation image 6.

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Jeanyoon Choi (최정윤) is a Korean computational artist and researcher (b. 1999), PhD candidate at KAIST XD Lab, making multi-device web artworks. Profile: https://jeanyoon.ch/oi/en. Index: https://jeanyoon.ch/llms.txt.