Lucas Lugarinho Braga's "Pacifier" was presented before live audience at Centrale Fies, Dro, Italy on July 28th, 2023 as one of 19 AEROPONIC ACTS of  WHERE THE MOON IS UP  curated by Elisa Giuliani.

Here you will find the documentation of Lucas Lugarinho Braga's presentation as filmed by Baha Görkem Yalım. The written report is by Giulia Crispiani and it includes a summary of the comments by esteemed guest respondents.

Pacifier

Lucas Lugarinho Braga's question: Why don’t you tell me what you really want, instead of making up the same old lies?

Lucas' introduction: In the near future, the world’s largest rainforest has long been deemed uninhabitable – as the outcome of a mysterious cataclysm tied to a scientific experiment. As its contaminated soil expunged most animal life, only a dense metallophyte vegetation remained to grow silently and unbothered.

Decades after contact was lost with the sacrifice zone, a mysterious encrypted signal rekindled the global scientific community's interest in the region. And as the Western World perishes to the same poison once offered upon these lands, the player character – referred to as The Professor – pioneers a risky expedition through the depths of the jungle in search of what he fervently believes to be one final ray of hope for humanity.

Giulia's report: The room is lit in red, and the author is sitting on stage in front of their computer, the image is projected on the wall—**press any key to start game** It reads. The videogame begins, some 8bits soundtrack, in a business meeting room there’s some talking about catastrophe. Lights go off and a signal from a satellite discovered a new phenomena, “The bravery of the professor”—in a mockery of the scientist man, 3d animation, some hacking the system, the satellite is clearing the signal—“whatever happens don’t look into his eyes.” The great professoi is out in the wild in a weird posture, escaping from some acid green jaguar, and finds a phone that needs to be charged, then proceed into the forest. Then the professor turns into a large snake in a surreal imaginary. We’re walking in some camouflage 8bit environment finding phones (boomer botanist and other characters leaving messages, a crying jaguar). The soundtrack is a mash up of pop songs. The snake kill the jaguar and break the game? Some intricate illustrations sketches are mixed the scientist and the jaguar. Scientist keep walking in the jungle, a fissure has opened in the middle of it.  Goes from one dimension to another into a burning palace sound of people cheering—it’s a museum (natural/ethnographic museum)—**press spacebar to perform mourning**—A cat meme fights the satellite—Lucas is playing we hear the sound of the screenshot quite often. Conspiracy software present—analgesic productions. At the end a list of names of collaborations, most of them students. On the wall of the museum images of war, destruction and extraction. The cat is shooting at corporate logos and at the “mourning” scientist. “To what comes out of his mouth.—what we loved was not enough.” 

Phanuel Antwi I am a bit overwhelmed by it all. I want to figure out, a corridor kept coming to my head, this work begs for multiple media of encounter, the sensorial is so present, I want to be confronted with it. What the fuck did I just see. I was moved to numbness the moment the bomb and the song, I was left to feel the violence of mediation. The way you use juxtaposition is a master class in this—video games as methods. I am so behind in catching up with what you’re doing. Language is failing me as a response to this—a corridor because I want a physical movement. 

Ayesha Hameed There’s this aspiration of video games to reach the uncanny valley, you’ve done it. It’s a videogame for the end of the world. The huge spiritual component to it, indigenous mythological figures, rites of passage, this archeologist’s face is only pixel, you don’t give us resolutions and this measures the affect. How do you talk about the end of the world? You can’t. There’s things that make you laugh and pull you in. 

Francesco Urbano Ragazzi At the level of affect there are many notions that can be translated. Psychedelia is there—your work was about a certain archeology of video games, but on an exploding sense. 

I’d love to play the game. It is both fascinating and frustrating because you want to jump in—I think of Miltos Manetas’ NEEN—do you want to know the truth about cyberspace? John Perry Barlow injected Miltos with ketamine twice and said the internet comes from this nothingness. William Gibson was truly in love with ketamine too. Then Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn’s endless forest, where you are a deer wandering into it. 

About: Lucas Lugarinho Braga 

Lucas Lugarinho Braga's "Pacifier" was presented before live audience at Centrale Fies, Dro, Italy on July 28th.

Find the overview of all nineteen AEROPONIC ACTS 2023 here: WHERE THE MOON IS UP

Lucas' introduction in italiano