Patrick Blenkarn + Milton Lim: asses.masses

Lees in het Nederlands

asses.masses is a 7+ hour live video game in the theatre, where spectators take turns leading a herd of unemployed donkeys through a post-Industrial world. There’s no winning or losing, the story unfolds through the audience’s choices. Cheeky, political, and immersive, it explores work, technology, and freedom in an epic, collaborative experience.

The unemployed donkeys have one demand: the humans must surrender their machines and give all donkeys their jobs back. But revolution is never easy!

asses.masses is a custom-made video game about labour, technophobia, and sharing the load of revolution, designed to be played from beginning to end in a live theatre. This is gaming as performance; an immersive, cheeky, and highly original work. Brave spectators take turns at the controller to lead the herd through a post-Industrial society, where asses are valued more for their hides than their potential.

Confronting automation-driven job loss, nostalgia as a barrier to progress, and the role of technology in adaptation, the audience is encouraged to find space between the work that defines us and the play that frees us. 

asses.masses is Animal Farm meets Pokémon meets Final Fantasy; exciting in form as well as content. No previous gaming (or donkey) experience is required.