Ian Cheng is the first artist invited to conceive a special project for the virtual space of the 5th Floor; it consists of a video animation presenting Emissary’s Guide to Worlding, Cheng’s pivotal contribution to the Biennale de l’Image en Mouvement 2018.

Ian Cheng’s e-book Emissary’s Guide to Worlding is aimed at anyone interested in uniting the complexity of worlding with the finitude of human psychology. Reflecting on his experience making Emissaries (2015–17)—a trilogy of simulations about cognitive evolution and the ecological conditions shaping it—Cheng derives practical methods for making worlds using the whole brain. Through exercises designed to summon the artistic masks of the Director, the Cartoonist, the Hacker, and the Emissary, Cheng asserts worlding as a vital practice to help us navigate darkness, maintain agency, and appreciate the multitude of worlds we can choose to live in.