Samuel Baidoo: Plum Road Tea Dream
Tuesday Sep 29 – Sunday Oct 4 at 17.00 -22.00 weekdays, 12.00-22.00 on the weekend, Kulturhuset Hartwig
Plum Road Tea Dream is a deeply collaborative, multiformat project by artist Samuel Baidoo (they/them). At its core,Plum Road Tea Dream is a video game that reflects on Samuel’s experience as a queer person of colour in Belgium. Through the avatar ‘S.’, Samuel transforms their pain, joy and grief into ‘game lore’: the comprehensive backstory, history and world-building that defines a game’s universe.
Here, the memories of S. are safe havens that can be visited. Each one becomes a sanctuary where visitors are invited to slow down and explore. Levels, graphics and tones shift as one wanders further into this world. Wandering means diving deeper into S.’s psyche.
Here, the memories of S. are safe havens that can be visited. Each one becomes a sanctuary where visitors are invited to slow down and explore. Levels, graphics and tones shift as one wanders further into this world. Wandering means diving deeper into S.’s psyche.
For Cinema Queer the game is presented in a cinematographic context for the first time. The installation is activated whenever a visitor begins to play. Others can gather, watch, and take over when the current player stops, turning videogaming & streaming culture into a collective shared experience. Once the game is completed and all chapters have been visited, the game resets and the “collective playthrough” begins anew.
Baidoo recently won De Ontwerpersprijs (the Design Prize) at the Nederlands Theater Festival for the epic intimacy of *Plum Road Tea Dreams*.
