‘Project e-Volution’ follows the story of an online cult who’s goal is to reject their mortal physical bodies and ascend to the digital realm. Hypnotic trance videos are the means they intend to use to ascend. Their plans are put in jeopardy when an ex-cult member claims the cults’ intentions are much darker and bands a group of defectors together to take down the cult. But do the anti-cult just want to save the day or are they secretly intending to use the same tools of hypnosis for something bad? Maybe to make consumers buy more products they don’t want? Is the anti-cult secretly just a capitalist corporation seeking any means to make their buyers more docile and subservient? You’ll find out the answers to these questions and much more when you play!
Over the past few weeks, Alex, Sandy & I, have been collaboratively developing the narrative and building the cults’ world together. We originally started with just the word ‘cult’ and discussed what we are mutually found to be fascinating within those spaces – the language they use, the initiation process and the fabulously dated graphic design, my personal favourite. The 2000’s were rife with occult HTML times new roman websites and word art, we want to create an homage to these pages. I have found myself trawling through this aesthetic time and again because it’s achievable, simple and yet somehow also really incredibly effective. Our main platform will be PowerPoint, which all three of us remember as a tool of invention in primary school with feels apt for this project. I am fascinated by these groups and how they attract their followers and often, what happens when you want to escape and what if you do?
Not long ago I watched a video of David Lynch claiming that he attributes all of his creative work to the power of Transcendental Meditation. Apparently so does Seinfeld and a number of other celebrities which got me swept up in a Google frenzy, this mantra meditation had taken over the world and seemed INCREDIBLE. But you couldn’t just do this meditation in the comfort of your own home, you must be given a mantra by a trained professional and they will carry you through your meditation. So going to a professional cost money, and hang on, so do all these other steps. And suddenly I found myself on these dodgey websites of people who had come out the other side of this process and believed it to be a scam. Their websites were anonymous because they didn’t want to be caught but through the lens of anonymity they would describe the whole experience – word for word. This is roughly how I would like someone to feel moving through this story – bound up in unravelling a twisted ball of yarn, trying to piece together the world and ultimately trying to decide whether anyone is right. Creating this sensation is complicated, the steps are plenty and arduous but I am excited for the challenge.