Alan Warburton

Goodbye Uncanny Valley is an industrially-reflexive essay film released in 2017, which maps the historical trajectory and conceptual boundaries of photorealistic computer-generated imagery (CGI). Taking the ‘uncanny valley’ not as an endpoint but as a cartographic marker, the essay explores adjacent territories: ‘the wilderness,’ where experimental artists engage with what Warburton terms the digital grotesque and couture graphics; ‘the frontier,’ where immersive world-building technologies are consolidated into real-time engine infrastructures; and ‘beyond the frontier,’ where emergent image regimes intersect with post-truth politics, post-cinematic aesthetics, and theoretical photorealism or the speculative rendering of unobservable realities. Sparking widespread discussion across art, industry and academia, it was nominated for Sight & Sound magazine’s Best Video Essays of 2017 and has been exhibited extensively in major galleries and film festivals worldwide.

CREDITS:

Written and animated by Alan Warburton with the support of Tom Pounder and Wieden + Kennedy. 

Music by Cool 3D World

Special thanks to: Leanne Redfern, Nico Engelbrecht, Iain Tait, Indiana Matine, Katrina Sluis, David Surman, Jacob Gaboury and Daniel Rourke.

Animated backgrounds generously provided by:

•    Quixel
•    Katarina Markovic
•    Roman Senko

Featuring work by:

• Al and Al

• Albert Omoss 

• Alex McLeod 

• Barry Doupe 

• Claudia Hart 

• Chris Landreth

• Cool 3D World 

• Dave Fothergill 

• Dave Stewart

• Drages Animation 

• El Popo Sangre 

• Eva Papamargariti 

• Filip Tarczewski 

• Geoffrey Lillemon 

• Jacolby Satterwhite

• Jesse Kanda 

• John Butler 

• Jonathan Monaghan 

• Jun Seo Hahm 

• Kathleen Daniel

• Kim Laughton

• Kouhei Nakama 

• LuYang 

• Mike Pelletier 

• Nic Hamilton 

• Pussykrew 

• Rick Silva 

• Sanatorios