Mikhail Maksimov, *S.A.R. Online Sessions*, online game, 2021 [2020]

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VRAL is currently exhibiting Mikhail Maksimov’ The New Game Is Over. To better contextualize and appreciate his multi-layered oeuvre, we will examine several works by the Russian avant-garde artist. Today we discuss the groundbreaking Sanatorium Anthropocene Retreat: Online Sessions (2021).

Russian artist Mikhail Maksimov continues his avant-garde explorations of technology, culture and identity in his interactive artwork, S.A.R. Online Sessions. Developed as an extension of his S.A.R. project for the 17th Venice Biennial of Architecture’s Russian Pavilion in 2020, this multiplayer video game offers players an immersive journey through virtual realms where posthumanism and transhumanism take center stage. For the record, S.A.R. stands for Sanatorium Anthropocene Retreat.

Awakening within a deserted digital replica of the Russian Pavilion during the heights of the 2020 Covid-19 pandemic, participants embody a protean entity bereft of identity. Through each interaction within the abandoned ruins, their avatar cycles through human, non-human, and posthuman forms—from sleek android to microscopic virus. This fluid transformation catalyzes a meta-exploration of anthropocentrism’s limitations and new frontiers of interconnection that transcend humanity’s constraints.

Maksimov utilizes the medium of gaming to examine anti-anthropocentric philosophies like antihumanism, posthumanism, and transhumanism. Players piece together fragments from a dystopian future while their ever-evolving virtual identity becomes a conduit for contemplating the Anthropocene’s dawn and the inevitable end of human reign. Themes of environmental collapse, consolation, and care emerge within the game’s decaying digital landscape.

Interestingly, the Russian artist releases all his work on Steam and itch.io, because he argues that contemporary art could be effective only if it is widely accessible. In an interview with Metal magazine contributor Lucy McLaughlin, he stated: “the distribution of video games, as opposed to cinema and contemporary art, does not depend on curatorial arbitrariness and isn’t linked to the cinema industry, which imposes restrictions on the artist.” Game power to the people.

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Matteo Bittanti