Title: The House of Sorrow
Venue and Format: Minecraft
Innovation: A play to be experienced by watching a gamer play a video game–each performance is different, as each gamer explores the game in a unique way.
Can the virtual space become a space of freedom, through which to explore both another world and the self, while being confined in a room? The myth of “El Dorado” – according to which gold objects were immersed in a river in the course of a ritual – could also be read as the restoration of matter to its source. Extracted from nature, gold was melted to create sculptures before being returned to nature. However, if what is to be restored is a thought, then how can that thought be restored to its source? During a trip to Colombia, artist Jisun Kim happened to meet a man named Min, who handed her a USB stick containing various games. The video games were developed by Min himself. Each of these games could be read like a book, in which one can get lost in Min’s thoughts and memories. But why did Min want to tell his stories in video games that can be experienced and reinterpreted over and over again? Jisun Kim invites a professional gamer to fully unravel, together with the artist, Min’s stories and thoughts. Together they inhabit the virtual sculpture The House of Sorrow and invite the audience to dive into Min’s world with them.
THEATRE/COMPANY: Kunstenfestivaldesarts
ARTISTS:
C0nception/Direction: Jisun Kim
Assistant Director: Yoonzee Kang
Technical Director: Jimmy Kim
Game Development: Doohyun Park, Gigang Moon, and Ojun Kwon
Illustration: Chaewon Oh
Actors: Whitney Bovy, Guillaume Loréa, and Theo Livesey
DATE OF PREMIERE: September 4, 2020
COUNTRY: Belgium
LANGUAGE: English, French, Dutch
CATEGORY: Online, Livestream, Game