Catalogue > At random

“How to Disappear” is an anti-war movie in the true sense of the word, searching for possibilities for peace in the most unlikely place of an online war game. It’s a tribute to disobedience and desertion - in both digital and physical-real warfare. Shot in the picturesque war landscapes of “Battlefield V”, the hyperreal graphics become the backdrop for an essay-like narrative. The film revolves around the history of deserters - a part of human history, which has hardly been illuminated. Performances and creative interventions explore the scopes and limits of the audiovisual entertainment machine. SYNOPSIS DE Ist es möglich, in einem Ego-Shooter-Spiel zu desertieren? Entlang dieser Frage reflektiert “How to Disappear” über Krieg und Spiel, Disziplin und Ungehorsam. Denn die Geschichte der Kriegsverweigerung ist genauso alt wie die Geschichte des Krieges -- und dennoch sprengt die Fahnenflucht den digitalen Handlungsraum des Spiels. Gedreht in den pittoresken Schlachtfeldern des Online-Shooters “Battlefield V”, wird dieses zur Kulisse für eine essayhafte Erzählung. Sie erzeugt einen Riss, durch den physisch-reale Wirklichkeiten in die depolitisierte Spaßbühne des Spiels eindringen. Anhand von Performances und Interventionen in das digitale Schlachtfeld lotet “How to Disappear” die Spielräume und Grenzen der audiovisuellen Unterhaltungsmaschine aus.

Total Refusal is an open artists’ collective which criticizes and artistically appropriates contemporary video games. However, as most mainstream game narratives employ the same infinite loops of reactionary tropes, the genre largely fails to challenge the values of their players and instead affirms hegemonial moral concepts. Acknowledging that this media is currently not realizing its cultural potential, we aim to appropriate digital game spaces and put them to new use. Moving within games but casting aside the intended gameplay, we rededicate these resources to new activities and narratives, looking to create “public” spaces with a critical potential.