Pastoral, 2019

Theo Triantafyllidis

Videogame

HD Display, Gaming PC, Game Controller

Pastoral (Environment), 2019

Theo Triantafylllidis

Site Specific Immersive Installation

Hay, Artificial Sunset, Pair of Blue Morpho Butterflies

In Pastoral, 2019 (video game), Triantafyllidis constructs a hybrid virtual expanding landscape, a field of hay brushed by golden sunlight. The player finds himself as a muscular Ork character in the middle of the field together with an antagonist presence that relentlessly follows his every step as a contemporary version of an ancient minotaur. The character feels strangely out of place in this setting, seemingly musing or enjoying a short break before yet another battle. Using a standard gamepad, the player can explore the landscape to find idyllic moments under the sound of a melodic lute. An anti-game of shorts it denies the player of any dramatic moments or interactions, but rather has them contemplate the bucolic calmness. But a sense of underlying violence remains, perhaps embedded within the very medium of the video game.

In Self Portrait (Reclining Ork), 2019, a tapestry woven from a screenshot of the same character, represents the Ork flirtatiously staring at the viewer. Caught in a moment of reflection, the artist is intimidating and tender at the same time. The gender-ambiguous avatar has been the virtual manifestation of Theo on his previous series of works titled “Role Play”, a year-long performance in Virtual Reality where him as Ork produced a series of augmented sculptures and paintings. The Ork character now exits the artist’s studio, for a moment freed from the burden of labor, an idealized being in conflict-free coexistence with nature, representing through the tapestry one of the possible proofs of its analog materialization. Materialization that continues, through a site-specific installation, that includes a physical hay sandbox and a simulated sunset, in order to allows a synesthetic and layered experience of the work.

Self Portrait (Reclining Ork), 2019

Theo Triantafyllidis

Woven Tapestry

Dimensions: 54” x 72” | 137 x 183cm

Pastoral (2019) the videogame is available to download and play on PC here.