Inchcolm Project

Inchcolm Project was the culmination of my first year of research into connecting performance and video games.

Through Inchcolm Project, I aimed to develop and test in practice a working methodology which combines game design strategies and techniques with live performance to create hybrid narratives which unfold across both mediums blurring the lines between the real and the virtual environments and bodies. What resulted was a two-hour experience on Inchcolm, a Scottish island in the Firth of Forth.

As part of this project I adapted a walking simulator, Dear Esther (The Chinese Room, 2012) to a live promenade performance (Dear Rachel) and brought the performance and the game together. Inchcolm Project thus combined elements of performance, video games, and live music. It was structured as a three-part experience: a re-imagining of Dear Esther as a promenade performance and audio-walk, a gameplay experience of Dear Esther played live and projected onto the Inchcolm Abbey wall, and a final musical performance by Mantra Collective performing Dear Esther’s soundtrack.