Anna Pichura and Triin Marts
Flotsam game, 2017/2018, instruction
The game of disappearing is given to the viewer in the form of instructions. Following the instructions contained in it, erasing oneself from the control systems, one can realize the scale of one’s own dependence. Players are tasked to leave the space they are currently in unnoticed, then break contacts with relatives and family, stop using ATMs, gradually stop using phones, avoid being recorded by monitoring systems. They are to build an alternative social network, learn to get food and money, find safe accommodation. During the game, they are not allowed to leave the city in which they play, ideally if it is a big city where they have been living for years.
“Flotsam means everything that floats on the surface of the water after the sinking of the ship. Metaphorically, it defines people deemed unnecessary, functioning in the margins. The game allows you to create emotional involvement in this form of life. We wanted to create a text in which you can review and confront the scale of your dependency”, say the authors of their work.
Drifting out of expectation and social requirements takes place on the basis of a performance delegated to those who undertake the game. Reality is intertwined here with the game. Players and observers hide their own roles, strategies, minor deceptions, and decisions to continue or stop the game.
(Text published in "Domestic Animals" exhibition booklet/Bunkier Sztuki, 2018)
Flotsam Game Manual was written in English and translated into Polish and Estonian. You can find the translated manual below: