The freshly painted, colourful façades of the little market town of Wildon cannot hide the fact – things are crumbling all about us, decay is spreading behind the walls and in the fusty interiors. There is another Wildon, one that has fallen out of space and time. Many of its inhabitants have held out, but the first of them are now disappearing. Silence spreads like a tumour. Life slowly seeps away through the little cracks in the fabric of time, only the echo of those who have disappeared can be heard. It is a dubious dimension that lies concealed behind the scenes of normalcy and that holds many a puzzle in store that needs to be solved. This is the point of departure of the theatrical adventure game created by the artist’s collective machina eX, in which the audience become players.
This trip around the town lasts for two hours, oscillating between reality, science fiction, mystery and radio drama. The performance game is accompanied by mysterious calls and clues, opens the doors to uncanny buildings, takes us on dangerous errant paths, and holds enigmatic encounters in store. The visitors, operating in small groups, examine mysterious rooms, have to complete tasks and make decisions which have a major influence on the course of the story.
The artist’s group, consisting of performance and technique artists, brings the world of computer games back to reality by means of sensors, electronic equipment, and software. “machina excursion: Kingdom” adapts its interactive spaces to the local conditions of the market town, whisking visitors off to a strange new world. The worlds created by machina eX reveal what lies hidden in the nooks and crannies of everyday life.