Redshift & Portalmetal

by micha cárdenas
Sound by Bobby Bray

To play, click Start.

Redshift & Portalmetal has been included in the Electronic Literature Collection Volume 3, and presented at MOMA R&D at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the HTMlles Festival of New Media in Montreal, the YYZ Artist Run Space in Toronto, the SCA Gallery in Los Angeles, Temple Contemporary in Philadelphia, Artscape Gibraltar Point on the Toronto Islands, and at the Gender, Bodies, Technology Conference at Virginia Tech. It has been taught in classes dealing with gender, electronic literature, digital humanities and environmental literature.

Redshift & Portalmetal asks: as climate change forces us to travel to the stars and build new homes and families, how do we build on this land, where we are settlers, while working to undo colonization? The story uses space travel as a lens through which to understand the experience of migration and settlement for a trans woman of color. Redshift & Portalmetal tells the story of Roja, who's planet's environment is failing, so she has to travel to other worlds. The project takes the form of an online, interactive game, including film, performance and poetry. I designed the interaction, wrote the text, performed the movement, and coordinated the filming in Los Angeles and Toronto. The project is built with HTML5 video, CSS and Javascript, using the Scalar e-publishing platform.

"A unique and fascinating game" -Richard Lemarchand, Former Naughty Dog Lead Game Designer, Associate Professor, Interactive Media Division, School of Cinematic Arts, University of Southern California

"A choose-your-own-adjustment-to-climate-dystopia" -Paolo Pedercini, Game Designer, Visiting Assistant Professor of Art, Carnegie Mellon University

"Fantastic, use of Scalar with full video. Important topics told in a mediative cool way!" @TenderClaws, developers of the Pry Novella for iPad

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Redshift & Portalmetal screenshots