Assigned Earth at Birth (Intrapology)
SUMMIT
Zoyander Street
(they/them)SUN, JAN 7 | 1:30 PM - 3 PM
Screening Theatre 201 (MIX 201)
‘Assigned Earth at Birth’ is a live-digital hybrid, interactive sci-fi comedy about doomerism, neurodiversity / neuroqueerness, and the pain of living in a world that works against your survival. It is the first story in the Intrapology series (intrapology.com), a series of interactive stories that will explore how people make worlds together, through the allegory of the Transdimensional Research Institute.
From the Artist
Zoyander Street
Director and Lead Writer of IntrapologyZoyander Street
Assigned Earth At Birth is the first foray into my Intrapology storyworld (intrapology.com). Inspired by queer and new materialist writing by theorists such as Donna Haraway, Sara Ahmed, and Karen Barad, it aspires toward inclusive transmedia storytelling about diverse ways of being and seeing, to enact conceptual shifts vital for earthly survival. I have been imagining the Transdimensional Research Institute for many years, and finally starting to create work in this storyworld has felt like falling deeply and madly in love.
Typically, the “multiverse” trope entails parallel universes branching off from individual “choices”. I critically reimagine this, to centre collective “worlding”. People who view the world in a way that erases your existence cannot see you, and you cannot reach them - when this occurs, our once-shared universe fragments into two smaller worlds. Intrapology will explore how worlds fragment, and how we can reconnect. Although the stakes are existential, the narrative will always be character-driven, focusing on the emotional core of how we come to live in a different world from people who were once our allies and kin.
In my wildest dreams, I imagine Intrapology becoming like Star Trek - but whereas Star Trek is about discovering new worlds, Intrapology will be about how we make worlds together.
I am a neuroqueer and disabled artist-researcher, working at the weird fringe of indie games since 2011. I specialise in interactive media and stories that break away from linear structure, to embrace ambiguity, complexity, and mess. My work tends to cross disciplinary boundaries, such as live theatre with game-like interaction, or videogames for gallery spaces.
I have been developing interactive performances since 2021, when I collaborated with Canadian artist Squinky to create a web app inspired by their prior work ‘Coffee: A Misunderstanding’, designed for online performances. The result was a play that changes based on audience votes. Since then we have continued to develop the app for other performances, and it now forms the foundation of Intrapology.
CREDITS
In collaboration with Caitlin Magnall-Kearns (they/them, she/her), actor playing Iris in Intrapology
Software created with Dietrich "Squinky" Squinkifer
Special thanks to Emily Theo Marlow and Jennifer Booth
Location photos created with kind support of Wentworth Woodhouse
Early development supported by Sheffield Theatres and Barrel Organ Theatre
November performance commissioned by Theatre Deli for the Social Model & More Festival
Desktop background image by Liz Ryerson (ellaguro)
ACCESSIBILITY NOTES:
Some flashing images; interaction requires use of a web app that is designed for use with screen readers and magnifiers, and has mainly been tested on Android. Some access features might not work properly, and we would appreciate feedback.
Some flashing images; interaction requires use of a web app that is designed for use with screen readers and magnifiers, and has mainly been tested on Android. Some access features might not work properly, and we would appreciate feedback.
THIS EXPERIENCE MAY INCLUDE:
Allegorical discussion of suicidal ideation; discussion of recent distressing news stories and trends, some preprogrammed and some improvised by the audience, topics including but may not be limited to: indefinite detention of refugees and other migrants, rise of hate crimes and the far right, ongoing impacts of the COVID pandemic on disabled people, mass extinctions / exterminations.
Allegorical discussion of suicidal ideation; discussion of recent distressing news stories and trends, some preprogrammed and some improvised by the audience, topics including but may not be limited to: indefinite detention of refugees and other migrants, rise of hate crimes and the far right, ongoing impacts of the COVID pandemic on disabled people, mass extinctions / exterminations.