Ex Machina | Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema
Join the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures for a film series featuring cyberpunk films like The Matrix, Ex Machina, Blade Runner and more! These films accompany the museum’s PST ART: Art & Science Collide exhibition Cyberpunk: Envisioning Possible Futures Through Cinema. Cyberpunk, a subgenre of science fiction, first appeared in the early 1980s and uniquely captured the anxieties of that decade. Featuring near-future scenarios set in worlds that resemble our own, cyberpunk stories juxtapose technological advances with social upheaval, ecological crisis, and urban decay.
Cyborg Ava (Alicia Vikander) is programmed to beat the Turing test, a method of distinguishing artificial intelligence from human intelligence. Director Alex Garland, working with the art department and special and visual effects teams, presents Ava as nearly human in her movements and expressions, even though her circuitry is exposed. A chilling exploration of female agency and the concepts of consciousness, purpose, and destiny, Ex Machina emerges as a story deeply concerned with power vis-à-vis humanity and its creations. The machines may be winning, but who created the machines? Ava’s deceivingly realistic silicone face and chrome skull can be found in the museum’s Cyberpunk exhibition.
