arcade.asinus [in-development]

created by Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim

Project description:

arcade.asinus is a video game arcade installation exploring the changing landscape of automated technology, the outmoded manual labourer, and the space between utility and worth. Documentarian in nature, each game is a deep play into the working conditions of donkeys in different regions around the world.

This project has received residency support through VIVO Media Arts Centre (Vancouver) and is in constant development as we build more custom games. Additional information about the project is TBA.

arcade.asinus is a sister project to a participatory theatre-video-game hybrid project by Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim called asses.masses. For the most up-to-date information on that project, please check out: assesmasses.work

On donkeys:

Equus asinus—the ass, the donkey—has played a central role in religion, colonialism, warfare, and the economics of almost every major civilization since its domestication over 5000 years ago. It has symbolized everything from power, strength, and stupidity, to wisdom, piousness, and fertility. In recent years, however, the utility of the ass has been made superfluous in post-Industrial societies and the animal is being ‘transitioned’ to produce other forms of value. In light of these transitions, the contemporary status of the ass presents a particularly potent context for understanding the state of labour in our current era, as well as a reminder of the deeply anthropocentric features of philosophies of labour and emancipation.

Upcoming workshops and presentations:

TBA Development Residency, TBA, Quebec City, CA

Previous workshops and presentations:

2021.07.01 - 2021.07.31 Development Residency, VIVO Media Arts, Vancouver, CA