⚙️ Stealth Algorithms: Hito Steyerl’s Encoding Of Metal Gear into her Factory Of The Sun

Abstract: This essay examines how Hito Steyerl’s video art installation Factory of the Sun (2015) intertextually references Hideo Kojima’s Metal Gear games as a way to discuss how computational algorithms function as tools of control within the contexts of World War II, the Cold War, and the contemporary stock market. First shown in the German Pavilion at the 2015 Venice Biennale, this immersive piece makes reference to the Metal Gear series in order to explore the history of wartime surveillance networks and the present existence of automated stock exchange software. The work’s textual references to the popular espionage-action games are used to help create a satirical near-future narrative focused on a group of game designers fighting against a tyrannical corporatized government. By closely examining Steyerl’s focus on Metal Gear (and stealth games more broadly), this essay will question the implications of the unknown or the unseen within global digital networks. How might visibility impact the efficiency of an algorithm? And to what extent does the invisible work as a force of power when engaging with the digital?

Keywords: Hito Steyerl, Metal Gear, the Cold War, World War II, game art, espionage, algorithms, stealth, the stock market

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Recommended citation: Bailey, A. (2022). “Stealth algorithms: Hito Steyerl’s encoding Of Metal Gear into her Factory Of The Sun.” The VGA Reader, Issue 3. The Video Game Art Gallery. https://doi.org/10.3998/mpub.12471295