You know how I take every opportunity to declare that I am
not an artist? (I've been through the Irish educational system, my deficiencies were made crystal clear to me.) Well, that's very much a singular I. Put me in a field with 3,000 others at
EMFcamp, and
we become a group art project. A living, interactive, art piece. An alternate reality. At once cyberpunk futurism, all the while revealing in countless old and obsolete technologies. Technologists, in the middle of a field contending with the realities of Nature. Revealing in near infinite possibilities. Struggling with hard limitations. Sharing knowledge, teaching skills, learning crafts. Puzzling out a quandary. Figuring stuff out.
Some people have staring roles. Others make up their parts as we go along. At every level of the whirlwind fractal. From those who roleplay, as villagers, mayors, unnecessary bureaucrats. Spies, and rebels. Or revel in the chance to be fully, and loudly, their true selves. The fantastical array in between manifesting in beautiful costumes; whether that's clothing adorned with LEDs, an electroluminescent wire wireframe of a bird, a mirrored catsuit wielding a light staff, masks of skulls and antlers, Daleks playing tag with children, or a parade of fursuits.
And all that is
before we get to the actual art installations and projects. Or theme. Which sets the stage; draping the resistant Nature in lasers, smoke, and flame throwers. And hands you a skeleton of a script to inspire. Curious minds reaching to understand how the cool thing was done. Playing the games. Interacting. A funhouse of possibilities, for people who like to peak behind the curtain. And make their own version.
My fellow villagers, as Null Sector closed down on the last night, next to the lasers over the lake, expressed a wish that EMF would become a university. One we would all fail to actually graduate, just repeating courses, over and over again. So we'd never have to leave.
We may not be aware that we're all parts of this larger unintended art project. But each and every one of us feels the power in the
possibilities of that temporary alternate reality. So it hurts to leave when it's over. Even as our bodies complain from the inescapable, and often harsh, physical reality, and crave the return to normality. Our spirits yearn for that rare elixir that was conjured in the field. From the hard work and sweat of hundreds of organisers, over the last fourteen years. And the eager participation of thousands of attendees each event. It is unique, and precious.
Tell me, where were you when they burned the effigy?
Lasers over the lake
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chebe
