…the light would perish for an eternal darkness, and rising from it’s terrifying depths, the world would fall into the dominion of monsters

It is of great important that you understand this.

My father and his father had great difficulties accomplishing what we now take for granted.
Their honorable memory shall never be allowed to be dragged in the dirt by later generations, not contributing enough in the mission of spreading the light.

You are soon to follow in my tracks.
Chase the monsters into the light of their ancestors.
Conciliate the nobles.
Herd the subordinates.

Like me, you’ll lead with your reins tight and practice inclement discipline.
The subordinates have to understand their role in order to know ours
and they are to be damn lucky for us showing our mercy on them.

Without our harsh achievement the light itself would perish for an eternal darkness, and rising from it’s terrifying depths, the world would fall into the dominion of monsters.

Do not dissapoint me, or I will twist and turn in my grave.

The artwork is an interactive installation where visitors use bodily movement in order to move in the virtual world.
On display is a dark, desolate environment with tough living conditions in a brutal hierarchical society. An imaginable dystopia without any trace of flora and fauna beyond the mere human…or?
This playable world constitutes a draft of the first chapter for a game, which onwards will be made available for download (PC/MAC).

The main question asked by this work, might be who or what is regarded as a monster.
Social structures in society makes us all evaluate and make judgments about behavior or outcomes. When an individual or a group of individuals gradually but increasingly depart from normative standards, the normative majority tends to frame them on the scale of ”monsterization”.
This distinction is made more often in hierarchical societies and less made in communities with a high level of equality and horisontal structures of power.
When powers of authority deceive us into utilizing our most primitive binary varning instincts, hierarchies and xenophobia are easily constructed as we think: Friend or foe? We or them?

Primary sources of inspiration for this art piece has been The book of Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818), the history of slavery and a deep fascination and sadness concerning the situation of whales/cetaceans. No other wild species has been subjected to such malicious and unscrupulous hunting by man. A pre-hunting population of many millions, brutally decimated already in the era of Shelley. Today, they count in a few hundreds or at best a couple of thousands per spceies.
The main reason of the mass slaughter of that time, was that of illumination. With no electricty, the power source spelled w-h-a-l-e, made into candles and fuel for lanterns. In that way, the lighthouse seen in the virtual world, represents both a guiding light for the people in the area as well as being used as a bait of entrapment.
This twin purpose perspective and floating binary distinctions is used consistently throughout the game. As in the book of Frankenstein, the monster is a living collage of several people, we obeserve similarties in genetic modification, which is also seen in this work, where characters are made from several objects and stitched together. Or as with most animations in the game as well, whice are prerecorded patterns of movement from a biological incividual, applied on a digital character.
Who or what is the monster?

TecHnical Details

The art piece is an installation composited by two main parts: A digital ”game” or ”interactive film”, mainly developed with Blender 3D and Coppercube, which is screened on a wall. The other part includes physical objects which can also be seen digitally on the screen.

The audience is invited to play, one by one. From the view of first perspective, you may raise one of your hands flat in the air to move around in 3D space. By closing you hand into a fist, you will be able to push, pull, select things, make choices.
Some of the objects in the installation will be connected to the game, so if they are touched, something might happen on the screen. (Sensors for movement in the game as well as touchable objects are made possible by the use of an Xbox Kinect One and a MakeyMakey).