asses.masses [2023-]

created by Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim

Project description:

Labour, technophobia, donkeys, and sharing the load of revolution: asses.masses is a long form participatory performance that follows the epic journey of unemployed asses as they navigate the perils of a post-Industrial society in which they’ve been made redundant.

At its core, asses.masses is a custom-made video game designed to be played on stage by a live audience. Brave spectators take turns each night stepping forward from the herd to seize the means of production and become the player. There are no instructions. It is up to the audience and their self-elected leaders to make decisions and play out their version of the game.

Cheeky, political, and best described as Animal Farm meets Aesop’s Fables retold by Franz Kafka, Karl Marx, and Sonic the Hedgehog, asses.masses puts the control(ler) in its audience’s hands and asks them to discover the space between the work that defines us and the play that frees us.

For the most up-to-date information on the project, please check out: assesmasses.work

On donkeys:

Equus asinus—the ass, the donkey—has played a central role in religion, colonialism, warfare, and the economics of almost every major civilization since its domestication over 5000 years ago. It has symbolized everything from power, strength, and stupidity, to wisdom, piousness, and fertility. In recent years, however, the utility of the ass has been made superfluous in post-Industrial societies and the animal is being ‘transitioned’ to produce other forms of value. In light of these transitions, the contemporary status of the ass presents a particularly potent context for understanding the state of labour in our current era, as well as a reminder of the deeply anthropocentric features of philosophies of labour and emancipation.

Creative team:

Patrick Blenkarn (Canada) — co-direction, text, programming, pixel art, 2D animation

Milton Lim (Canada) — co-direction, text, sound design, video, 3D visual effects

Laurel Green (Canada) — dramaturgy, text, touring management

David Mesiha (Canada) — original music, sound design

Clarissa Picolo (Brazil) — pixel art, animation

William Roth (France) — pixel art, animation

Ariadne Sage (Germany) — 3D environments

Samuel Reinhart (USA) — additional programming

Marcos Krivocapich (Argentina) — Spanish translation

Gilles Poulin-Denis (Canada) — French translation

Previous in-development workshops: