hyperstition feedback

Mixmage wrote

The installation was genuinely unsettling: it really did feel like a scene of crime after the cops had taken away any living (and not so living) bodies, leaving us (the investigators) to piece together just what the very fuck had occurred. I thought the "leaked MOD timeline" was an excellent preamble which had my mind whirring, trying to imagine what I was about to witness. I was glad that I didn't read the concept document until after my viewing, allowing the installation to speak for itself. Bringing us in through the service area, the whole raising of the shutter, all served to heighten the anticipation. Sending us directly into the viewing room-turned-altar was a kind of psychic slap.

I didn't trust my companion from the moment we got in there. I suspected her of being "in on it", perhaps leading me or serving to highlight important fragments that I might have overlooked... mostly, I had to keep an eye on her in case she suddenly went batshit and started picking up rusty tools.

So... genuinely unsettled.

The sounds emanating from the Cthulu plinth were extremely disconcerting, I was too (I admit) scared to approach the altar until the half hour was just about over. It was the sudden sounds that caught me off-guard and made me think the statue had moved in my peripheral vision. That said, the one aspect that sold the scene more than any other was the smell. As soon as I walked in my hackles were up: the combination of smouldering incense and putrefaction (is that shit? have they used real faeces?) hit me like the word "Newcastle" to John Constantine.

This is bad. Really. Bad.

Add to all this the fact that the torches only gave a very small circle of light, and were off by default... well...

I've worked in FX a bit, done make-ups and gore for fun (I'll link you to my flickr below) so I was quite ready to have to suspend my disbelief. Instead, I found myself using it as a shield. The altar was quite clearly an altar - not just a bit of set-dressing of what an altar *might* look like. The books and documents - all real. The smell, the flesh, likewise. I had to analyse the way the blood was settling, examine the contents of the backlit specimen jars, note the Futurama cypher, dwell on the pop-cultural references (all work and no play makes jack a dull boy), translate the inscriptions (If you can read this you're too weird)... basically tread water in this immersive installation. Both my co-investigator and I tested every door - a clear indicator that really we wanted more - I think we were both relieved and disappointed that the other toilet cubicle turned out to be unused... the fact that she came and got me before she opened the door didn't do anything to allay my suspicion of her, but perhaps hinted at her own disquiet.

To sum up, I would use the word "dense": so much detail, so many cues, so much deeper and broader than a mere set-dressing. I regretted not having brought a camera. Please tell me you took some photos!

So... what next? Is that it for the Hyperstition installation, or do you plan to recreate it elsewhere? I know it's expertly and inextricably tied to the location and its history, do you think it could work elsewhere? Or perhaps keep it in Colchester, but weave it into a larger event...