Emotional Futures
07-23Emotional Futures is collaboratively produced by IRL: Marcel Darienzo, Carina Erdmann, Steph Holl-Trieu, Andrew Pasquier, Xiaoji Song, Moritz Tontsch and Ingeborg Wie Henriksen.
Commissioned by LAS Art Foundation. Photo: Tarek Effat
Emotional Futures is a web-based game that invites players to invest in their emotional future through interactions with friends. After each exchange, players evaluate their emotional output, turning them into liquid currencies: Blood, Sweat and Tears. These feed each player's unique Emoxy — an alchemical virtual creature that evolves with every level. The Emoxy accompanies players on their journey, inviting them to continue investing in their own growth while at the same time questioning the game’s logic. This situates the game in critical proximity to self-improvement apps (like mindfulness or wellbeing applications) that measure and gamify personal development. The more players interact with Emotional Futures, the more they are encouraged to reflect on the ways in which technologies are used to manipulate and monetise their emotions. Emotional Futures was conceived during The Communes, a hackathon organised in 2021 by Black Swan, an artist-led DAO.
Game, Research, Speculation