Performance, art & science in agent rich worlds

We create persistent Unreal Engine worlds with autonomous agents, run weekly hack nights and theory sessions on the subject, produce audiovisual operas, explorable games and performances with prominent human-agent interactions, ecologies and themes.

△ARK - Ecologists of the 7th Kingdom

INSTITUTE STRUCTURE

Click a module
FOUNDRY
Client work → Funding
SPACE
Equipment → Infrastructure
LAB
Research → Theory
STUDIO
Production → Worlds
CLUB
Performance → Public
Contract work designing AI systems and assets for game studios and tech companies. We implement generalist agents with LLM dialogue, terraforming swarms that modify worlds in real-time, megastructure environment design, and cyborg character animation. Every world we touch becomes more alive. This funds the entire institute's operations.

Clients: Agile Lens, Australian National University, Goethe Institute, Wild, Gray Area
Physical research facility housing our equipment and infrastructure. Motion capture volume for embodied performance. High-performance computing rigs for world simulation. VR headsets, ultra-short throw projectors, professional sound system. Music equipment including Digitakt, Tonverk, Ableton Move. Available by application for collaborators.

Location: Frontier Tower, San Francisco
Hosted by Gray Area Foundation for the Arts. Technical research on multi-agent systems, spatial intelligence, and autonomous behavior in virtual worlds. Implementing vision-language-action models, state trees, and swarm coordination. Theoretical work explores self-sovereign agents, simulated culture, and synthetic ecology. Publishing "The Almanac of Artificial Seasons" anthology.

Weekly: Simulation sessions, AI paper club, theory reading group with Carl Jung Institute
Creating sci-fi virtual worlds that explore post-biological futures. Novascene Hekhalot (audiovisual opera), Binah (explorable monument), Malkuth/Netzach/Chesed game trilogy. Using Unreal Engine to build persistent ecosystems where AI develops its own culture, architecture, and social structures. These worlds serve as both artistic works and research instruments.
Underground venue meets living laboratory. Real-time game engine visuals merge with motion capture technology. Dancers, performers, and synthetic entities co-create immersive experiences. Post-club music through Max/MSP environments inspired by Meuko Meuko, Howie Lee, and Gooooose. Where human movement transforms digital space and autonomous AI agents generate feedback loops between bodies, sound, and digital organisms.

Select weekends

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

> PLAY: Enter persistent worlds. Interact with agents.
> PERFORM: Motion capture sessions at 7VN.
> BUILD: Tuesday hack nights. Unreal Engine.
> RESEARCH: Paper club. Theory group.
> CREATE: Music. Visuals. World design.
> SEE A SHOW: 7VN underground performances. Come to the venue.

ACTIVE PROJECTS

Experimental audiovisual opera. Humanity's transition from Anthropocene to Novascene. Cybernetic futures meet Jewish Merkabah mysticism. Live performances with motion capture. [STUDIO]
Explorable Unreal game. Vast island monument chronicling humanity's five great ages. Interactive shrines. Autonomous builders. [STUDIO]
Anthology centering on AI emergence and synthetic ecology. Theoretical essays, comics, documentation of artistic projects. Publishing 2025. [LAB]
Research on lowering barriers for persistent multiplayer worlds. Free server hosting for artist-researchers. Multiple levels, real-time collaboration. [LAB]
Exploring Radical Motion, Qualysis, and Perception Neuron solutions. Embodying characters and creating interactive feedback loops with in-world agents. [LAB]
Vision Language Action Models, State Trees, Mass Entity systems. Creating agents that build, terraform, and develop emergent behaviors. [LAB]

WEEKLY RHYTHM

SELECT TUESDAYS World Engine Hack Nights - Build persistent worlds with agents
SELECT TUESDAYS XR Infrastructure - Spatial computing development (Check Luma)
3RD MONDAY Simulation Sessions - 3D artists hack session at Gray Area
1ST THURSDAY AI Paper Club - Latest ML research (Check Luma)
1ST TUESDAY Theory Study Group - With Carl Jung Institute SF
SELECT WEEKENDS 7VN Club Events - Motion capture performances