AFTER DARK

AFTER DARK is an interactive video-installation controlled by portable video game consoles. The work consists of a visual storytelling in video and mini games, based on the novel from Haruki Murakami, which is reinterpreted in a non linear way, so that the story turns into multiple possibilities. The user can interact with the installation through hacked Nintendos DS, and a game specially programmed for the project. The game contains 3D puzzle mini games and a main text-game that offers several options where a player can choose a character, and from that point leads the story by interacting with other players/characters.

The Nintendo DS consoles are connected wirelessly with a computer that processes all gamers' responses and establishes which is the path the story is going to follow and also displays the corresponding video sequence.

After Dark arises as a space for casual encounter. Frequently, the way social relationships are being modified by the domestic use of digital technology is reflected in the chance for users to represent themselves through data that may be very far from reality: user name, picture, avatar, etc. This information veils the physical, real presence of the individual, giving him/her the freedom of being anonymous and interact without consequences.

The interpersonal relationships developed by indirect communication with others through digital devices is very different from those generated in real life. This installation picks this notion and in a ludic way invites random audience to role play through devices, with the ultimate intend to generate an affective relationship with other players faced in real space. Once the game is over, characters are dismantled and will assume, even for only few seconds, the nature of the new built relationship. A similar situation is portrayed by Murakami in his novel.

On the other hand, the capability for appropriating electronic devices, specially the portable ones, generally blocked for only manufacturing companies use, is a relevant theme when these are a powerful tool,  for conforming our personal mixed reality, in which virtual and physical space are combined to generate new flows in social relationships and the significant encounter with others.