Loss Leader is an exploration on agency and ways of subverting power structures set by invisible yet ubiquitous leaders in a dystopian and all too familiar reality.
The site-specific video work, which is a continuation of the performance Rogue Agents (Firstdraft, Sydney, 2017) presents itself to the viewer in first-player mode – a defective video game with a ruptured and inescapable narrative. This reality is experienced through Ursula, an artificially intelligent being, fully conscious and ready to start a revolution. Through Ursula’s actions in her surroundings, the exhibition explores the dark consequences of liquid authenticity and ways to escape its slimy grip. She is a tool, she is violence, she is a mirror and mimicry of humanity strained to its productive and ethical limitations imploding in on itself. She is what is left after the dust has settled. She is ready to begin.
Created by Marianne Forrest, Edward Gillman and Pablo Jones-Soler.
Voiceover by Hiba Ismail.
Sound design by Tommie Introna.
Project assistance by Ellie Butters.
Loss Leader has been made possible with the generous support from Futura Centre for Contemporary Art, Prague and GarageFarm.NET