Game Art: David Blandy and Larry Achiampong's "Finding Fanon Gaiden: Alternative" (2016)

Inspired by the writings of political philosopher Frantz Fanon, Finding Fanon Gaiden: Alternative is currently on show at The Gallery, Tyneside Cinema, located in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom. The work is a meditation on time, technology, identity, virtuality, and social interaction in the age of pervasive monetization by the likes of Mark Zuckerberg and his acolytes. The piece is not intended as a "sequel" to Finding Fanon 2 - currently on display in Milan, Italy as part of

, but more like a divertissement, a variation on a theme, a "lost" play by Fanon resuscitated in machinima form. A lyrical, poetic rumination on surviving in a technocratic world, Finding Fanon Gaiden: Alternative is set both in natural and urban settings. It communicates both a sense of urgency - highlighted by the characters' frantic motion (running, swimming, climbing) - and stasis, or even paralysis. The work is truly polyphonic: several voices both accompany and (aurally) animate scene of uncanny tranquility. As ever, in the simulated spaces we inhabit, "it is impossible to dream".

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