Artist Discusses Social Media Identities Through The Sims

As strange as it may sound, when I was a child, I didn’t mind being sick. In fact, I found it somewhat exciting. It meant not only skipping school but also spending the entire day playing The Sims. The only breaks I took were when my fever spiked or when the thick, square, and heavy laptop typical of the time overheated. Since the age of nine, the game has been a constant in my life—there hasn’t been a period when I stayed away from it for more than a few months.

For those unfamiliar with the game, The Sims is a simulation often described as a “virtual dollhouse” or “playing God.” Its charm likely lies in the ability to dictate every decision, action, and emotion in a world created exactly the way you want it. This sense of absolute order and control is highly addictive.

The nostalgic connection with the game is the foundation of Bulgarian artist Ivelina Ivanova’s exhibition Low Poly Fever Dream. The artist admits that she simply wanted to play The Sims, not organize an exhibition. Nevertheless, the project, curated by Andreya Gandeva and Vasil Vladimirov, found its place at the KO-OP space, Sofia, Bulgaria, representing a successful symbiosis of “the useful and the pleasant.”

Low Poly Fever Dream is primarily a nostalgic immersion into the aesthetics of Y2K or the early 2000s—an era I would describe as a time of utopian “cyber” futures. It is primarily aimed at millennials and early Gen Z audiences, evoking a sense of “returning home” to retro online spaces like Kefche, Barbie.com, StarDoll, Club Penguin, Second Life, and the numerous forums that were our first introduction to today’s social media. Simultaneously, the darkness of the gallery space, contrasting with the light from screens, simple furniture, and scattered discs, evokes the physical homes of the 2000s and the late-night hours spent in front of a computer.

The strength of Low Poly Fever Dream lies in its exploration of the boundary between reality and the virtual, reflected in a synthetic space. The blue backdrops, based on the graphical limitations of The Sims 1, enhance the feeling of digital infinity while also creating a distinctive visual identity for the exhibition. The visual language is clean, simplified, and two-dimensional, characteristic of low-poly games.

As the curators note, Low Poly Fever Dream successfully references a time when computers held a special place in our homes, seemingly at the center of everything—like the pink monitor placed at the heart of the exhibition. Through it, the audience can glimpse Bot Brother, an interactive video installation inspired by The Sims and early Massively Multiplayer Online Games (MMOGs). In this work, an algorithm, based on comments from Bulgarian internet forums and social networks, generates dialogues for characters, turning the otherwise politically neutral world of Sims into a space for uncensored public discourse.

The critical exploration of internet comments and avatars reflects society in a caricatured yet disturbingly accurate way. “For me, it’s a kind of therapy to channel impressions from hobbies that are widely seen as unhealthy (reality shows and gaming) into art. I’m intrigued by finding philosophical meaning in the media trash that surrounds us. It’s a spectacular mirror of our post-digital society. Perhaps it’s also a protest against the snobbery towards pop culture phenomena,” the artist adds.

Indeed, this is a manifestation of the process of shaping a certain type of “personality” through online presence and consuming content emerging within a specific information bubble. This dynamic reflects the tendency for online identity reduction—complex personalities and social issues are reduced to “tokenized” roles and visual archetypes, symbols, templates, and insults.

Thus, the toxic potential of internet culture to transform individuals into stereotypes is revealed, guiding users deeper and deeper into an “information rabbit hole” that could ultimately lead to clichéd personas like the “patriot” or the “neoliberal.” Each of these labels follows its own behavioral system. The artist questions whether the system itself turns people into bots who believe they are unique while their behavior is, in fact, programmed.

In Bot Brother, the artist uses The Sims 1 aesthetics and dialogue generated through an N-gram-based predictive language model algorithm. Based on personal research on social networks and collected comments, she creates five characters or bots that function within the game. They are fed a list of commonly encountered insults and phrases randomized by the language model. The specific Bulgarian archetypes featured in the work include:

• Spam Bot (fueled solely by spam comments like ads, invitations to dubious Telegram channels, money scams, etc.)

• Macho/Patriot

• Russophile

• Liberal/Social Justice Warrior/Urbanite/E-scooter Enthusiast

• GERB Supporter

“I don’t identify with these archetypes, but I’m sure they would classify me as one of them. And they likely wouldn’t identify themselves as such either,” the artist shares.

This raises the question of whether it is even possible to actively participate in social media without being reduced by the content consumed into a cliché. As Ivanova notes, the act of commenting on the internet is very different from interacting in a closed circle of friends.

The flow of information makes users sharper, harsher, and even more sensitive to anything that disrupts their own algorithm. Globally, social networks, like X, act as catalysts for aggression and the adrenaline rush of every online argument. “There is a connection between the strong desire to make public statements and reductionist thinking,” Ivanova adds. “Objective, informed opinions require a kind of humility, patience, a more moderate and calm approach to global and local events. The most active internet users are impatient, heated, and have accumulated a flood of impressions, rushing to channel their outbursts into the network. And, apparently, they have plenty of free time.”

The exhibition also includes “feedback loop” elements that visualize the influence of algorithms on users. In one scene, a Sim paints a watercolor copy of a real-life artwork physically displayed in the gallery—a reference to the meta-interaction between the digital and physical worlds.

Ivanova also touches on the significance of “female” gaming, often associated with simulation games like The Sims. While the topic is too broad to be directly addressed in the exhibition, it is mentioned in the accompanying text. The industry’s label of “feminized gaming” is market-driven. Indeed, the Sims community and players are predominantly women interested in unconventional gameplay, replacing classic mechanics with narrative and storytelling. This does not make stereotypical gaming, whether shooter, action-adventure, RPG, etc., “male” but rather gives it a universal character. As mentioned, the topic is extensive and would likely lead to discussions about “gatekeeping” in gaming communities and new reflections on archetypal social groups.

Beyond this concept, the artist creates a vivid and immersive atmosphere that fully transforms the space through symbolic representations of Y2K technology—an old Nokia, scattered CDs, outdated graphics. Layers of various media, screens, and projected images place the viewer on the fine line of information overload, characteristic of the early years of the online space. Thanks to the subdued lighting, the blue glow stands out even more, reminiscent of late nights spent in front of the computer during childhood.

Low Poly Fever Dream is not just an expression of nostalgia—it builds upon the clichéd images of childhood and Y2K culture. Ivellina Ivanova captures a unique sense of the past while posing important questions about identity, online culture, and the impact of technology on people.

The Low Poly Fever Dream exhibition can be visited until December 15, 2024, at the KO-OP gallery space in Sofia, Bulgaria.

About the Artist

Ivelina Ivanova (b.1995) is a Sofia-based new media artist. In 2017 she graduated with a BA(Hons) in Animation from the University of Westminster in London. Her animated short films are recognised by numerous international film and video art festivals, including Annecy International Film Festival and Pictoplasma. Upon her return to Sofia, she expands her field of practice towards live visualisations, projection mapping and interactive installations. Since 2018 she is a part of the team of Phormatik Visual Lab – a studio for digital art and immersive experiences. In 2022 she obtains a Master’s Degree in Digital Arts at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia. Nominee for BAZA Award for Contemporary Art 2023.