Through an interactive, non linear story the idea of a multi-layered, or multi skinned, self portrait comes into stark focus. Although the stories are not directly following one another, they take place in the same possible futures thought experiment, and allow for consideration of the implications of our steady motion, towards connecting ourselves more directly with technology, and letting go of aspects that make us human. The stories told are not fixed, and can be taken from multiple perspectives, mimicking the process of desquamation, or shedding skin, that is a constant process from birth until death.

Desquamation, literally meaning the process of shedding skin, uses this metaphor to instil a haptic and physical feeling into what is an otherwise metaphysical experience. As we digitise ourselves, we often look at the things we have gained, rarely considering what we lose along the way. By using the metaphor of shedding skin, Desquamation attempts to make these things tangible, and have value, and be worthy of our consideration.

Building on the haptic feeling of the shedding skin metaphor, the word desquamation is also a loaded medical term, often being used to describe processes that happen during rashes and infections. Therefore, allowing my opinion on the topic to be, not so subtly, introduced through the title of the piece.

As the project is also based in a virtual space, the idea of skin becomes all the more relevant. Skin being used as the term to describe the avatar of the player. Changing skins and personalities can become all the more real when imagining these changes in a virtual realm, and this project takes that idea further imagining skins not only as the visual, but traits of humanity that are being shed away and lost.

 

 

The project has 5 main sections that imagine key topics in the human experience as if taking place in a digital, meta space. These include Birth, Death, Emotion, Sexuality and Spirituality. Each of these sections appears as its own level, allowing for a focused exploration of the topic. By isolating each of these topics, the stories come into their own as part of a non linear collection of ideas. Not being bound to a linear storytelling format, each topic does not rely on the others for context, however ideas and themes that feature will also share similarities to that of the other topics, allowing for a series of speculations that most definitely belong in the same thought experiment. As the project unties itself from a linear narrative method, it invites the viewer to mentally bridge the gaps between, allowing space for contemplation and introspection on the plethora of themes at hand.

The work itself is shown in a performative context. There is a large, cinema like screen as the main point of focus. There is then a performer (me) , sitting, facing the screen, and playing through the experience live. The audience are sitting behind and viewing over the shoulder, where I appear as a silhouette on the screen.