Over four days, the fair brings together game developers, film studios, projection companies, acting groups, weather stations, technology start-ups, university researchers, police departments and arms manufacturers. They display and sell advanced simulation tools—from virtual environments and physical models to embodied training and digital asset archives—that enable powerful institutions to rehearse future scenarios.
The live essay traces the politics of this ecosystem, following global companies and platforms, including Adobe, Unreal Engine, Barco and JVC, alongside self-described “female-led and minority-owned start-ups” as they compete and collaborate with major arms manufacturers.
By revealing the entanglement of the creative industries, academic research, policing and the defence sector, the work examines how the power to imagine and simulate possible futures is unevenly distributed, ultimately asking: “Who gets to rehearse the future?”
Special Thanks | Steven Eastwood and Nicholas Ridout
Supported by | Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC), through the London Arts and Humanities Partnership; Queen Mary University of London