State of Play: شهر بازی is the selected project of the SHARESPACE Open Call for Artists 2023. As part of this initiative, artists were invited to develop a multi-user, hybrid, interactive art performance for Deep Space 8K. Created by Tara Habibzadeh, Harriet Davey, and Mati Bratkowski, this game-based participative art performance references the 7 Labors of Rostam from the Persian epic poem Shahnameh. Presented in Deep Space 8K at the Ars Electronica Festival 2024, the piece allows up to five participants to control avatars of Rostam using laser tracking, while the boss enemy is brought to life through a motion capture suit.
The performance blends immersive storytelling, deconstructive philosophy, and anti-colonial perspectives. Inspired by traditional miniature paintings, the experience begins with a live-narrated Farsi introduction, guiding players into the interactive game. Using Unreal Engine and the pharus laser system developed by the Ars Electronica Futurelab, players move through different game levels, working together to overcome attacks from the boss character div-e sepid (white demon). In the final sequence, players unexpectedly discover that the healing mechanic they’ve used on each other can also be applied to the boss—leading to an unintended yet inevitable conclusion.
A gamemaster provides live narration, enhancing the interactive experience much like a tabletop roleplaying guide. The performance leverages MetaHuman technology and Live Link Face for real-time facial animation, deepening engagement. With music and sound design by snake_case and Himera, the project represents a 10-month collaboration between artists, technologists, and performers. It was showcased at Ars Electronica Festival 2024, featuring movement artist Fran Klein as the boss character.
Detailled project description
Credits:
Tara Habibzadeh: Concept, Research, Artistic Direction, 2D Visuals, Script
Mati Bratkowski: Unreal Engine Development, Game Design, Creative Direction
Harriet Davey: Character Design, Design Direction
Supporting Artists: Fran Klein, snake_case (Imogen Davey and Callum Murray), Himera
About the Artists
Tara Habibzadeh’s practice thinks in refined yet impulsive evidence of ambiguous audiovisual dialectics beyond self. Born and raised in Tehran with an academic background in Film, Mathematics, Law and Philosophy, Habibzadeh’s works think in analogies and metaphors for complex systems and layers in the simplest dialectic visuals and language using the mundane trivial while challenging the Eurocentric colonial and orientalist binaries with scientific and universal methods. Their varied works include video, painting, installation and words. They live and work in Tehran and Berlin.
Find out more at: https://www.instagram.com/kamikaze.labyrinthe/
Mati Bratkowski (b. 1997) is a digital artist and game developer specializing in digital performance, virtual reality, and immersive experiences. He collaborated on tour visuals for Madonna’s World Tour and has worked with artists like the Keiken collective and Gabriel Massan. His work has been showcased globally, including in the UK, Germany, France, Japan, China, and throughout Europe, at venues like the 21st Century Museum in Japan, HAU Theatre in Berlin, and Somerset House in the UK.
Find out more at: https://www.instagram.com/matibratkowski/
Harriet Davey is a 3D Artist and Art Director based in Berlin. Through the exploration of gender non-conforming virtual avatars, Davey restores and reclaims the bodies extorted by a male dominated gaming industry. Obsessed with questioning what it means to be fluid and human in a digital world: their work examines and interrogates the ugly and the beautiful; the maximum and the minimum; the online and the offline.
Find out more at: https://www.instagram.com/harriet.blend/
