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Mineral KingdomJacky Connolly
(Film 2 of 4) Moving seamlessly between the idyllic landscapes of upstate New York and the simulated worlds of The Sims or Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V), artist Jacky Connolly explores the increasingly blurred relationship between our physical and digital worlds. Through her films, Connolly calls attention to the particular real-world aesthetics, experiences, and forms that are echoed in the simulated environments of video games or generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) software. “I usually build the world of the film by bringing all these disparate images together,” states the artist. “So, there already is this feeling of the real world being closely imitated.” Connolly’s work equally engages the real and the digital: whether drawing inspiration from I, Spy books and furniture catalogs to create her meticulously designed filmic worlds or bringing life to computer-generated scenes and characters through the use of real-world field recordings, sound design, and installation strategies. This suite of four documentary films follows Connolly as she explores the mirrored worlds of the digital and the real, discovering how both continue to shape and reflect what it means to be alive.
Credits
Executive Producer: Tina Kukielski. Series Producer: Ian Forster. Director of Development: Lolita Fierro. Associate Director of Communications: Hannah DeGarmo. Associate Curator: Jurrell Lewis. Curatorial Assistant: Noor Tamari.
Production Company: Rava Films. Producers: Ava Wiland & Rafael Salazar Moreno. Managing Producer: Danielle Davis
Director/Producer: Jonna McKone. Cinematography: Devin Pickering. Sound: Chris Heitzman. Production Assistant: Inna Ivanovskaya. Editor: Russell Yaffe. Colorist: Russell Yaffe. Sound Mix: Russell Yaffe. Assistant Editor: Sam Klein. Music: Spacelute. Composers: Troy Herion & J.R. Narrows. Title Design: Alina Rancier
Artwork Courtesy: Jacky Connolly and Tara Downs. Archival Footage: Courtesy of the Hagley Museum and Library.
Special Thanks: Lower Cavity & Forrest Muelrath.
© Art21, Inc. 2025. All rights reserved.
Closed captionsAvailable in English, German, Romanian, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Chinese, Italian
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Jacky Connolly was born in 1990 in Lower Hudson Valley, New York, where she currently lives and works. The artist received her BFA from Bard College at Simon’s Rock in 2011 and her MFA and MSc from Pratt Institute in 2016. Working with artificial intelligence (AI), machinima filmmaking techniques, and the preexisting worlds and assets of video games, Connolly creates works that explore slippages between real and simulated life. In her films, sculptures, and installations, the artist draws inspiration from the everyday: whether experienced in day-to-day life, simulated in the worlds of video games like Grand Theft Auto V (GTA V) and The Sims, or reflected in the generated imagery of AI softwares that call attention to the variously banal and unsettling scenes that texture our worlds.
“I usually build the world of the film by bringing all these disparate images together. So, there already is this feeling of the real world being closely imitated.”
Jacky Connolly