escapism (2022)
The desire for self-optimization and transformation is stronger than ever. In a culture shaped by computer technology, its language is increasingly projected onto bodies and minds. The self appears as something that can be updated, rewritten, or enhanced—human nature treated as mutable code. Within this logic, the framing of psychedelics as tools for optimization has become popular: a shortcut to change, promising transformation without duration, effort, or process.
Escapism is an immersive, fiction-based therapy session. Set in a club environment, the audience stands in front of a stage holding a construction of multiple strobe lights. A voice instructs them to close their eyes. Through guided meditation, their bodies and minds are prepared for a fictive therapy session.
The session consists of a polyphony of strobe lights emitting short, rhythmic flashes. Grounded in research around the light therapy machine LUCIA No. 2, this treatment induces visual and spatial hallucinations. In this altered state, the audience experiences the unfolding narrative.
At first, the machine presents itself as a system designed to update the audience—to elevate them to a higher state of being. The audience is integrated into its circuitry. As the process continues, the machine begins to fail: it cannot recognize certain human qualities because they cannot be translated into readable data. This leads to a complete system error. The machine fails to transform the humans, but in its breakdown, something within the machine itself changes.