Published by Museum of Old and New Art, Hobart, Australia, 2019.
Texts by Tony Birch, Kate Crawford & Vladan Joler, Boaz Levin & Vera Tollmann, Emma Pike, Jarrod Rawlins, and Tiziana Terranova.
Board game, 16 x 10.5 inches
Reinventing the classic Australian sheep-farming game 'Squatter', 'Extractor' is a dystopian board game that maps the possible dynamics of global data-driven businesses or 'platforms' as they compete for world domination. The vast accumulation of data needed for this goal is set against a backdrop of aggressively 'extractive' business practices and the impact they have on the planet. Extraction is a fundamental mechanism of most industries, with a small few accumulating great wealth by extracting value from the earth and the majority of its population. In the universe of Extractor, these global platforms--and aspiring monopolies--automate extraction processes and dominate industry, exhausting resources and polarizing society in its wake. By building their own centralized data platform in “Extractor”, players reveal the mechanisms underlying digital capitalism.
This is a playable artwork by Simon Denny, produced in a limited edition of 1000 copies to accompany the exhibition MINE.
