Our Unnecessary Complications
Artist Statement
By: Trevor McCauley
Everything is text. Right down to the cursor, and rightfully so. As a textual project, Our Unnecessary Complications attempts to convey to the user a sense of unnecessary complication which each of our lives seems to be consumed in. To go along with the more interactive and metaphorical sections of the piece are interludes of standalone monologue, which not only helps convey the idea, but also offers a greater sense of confusion and complexity to an otherwise striaghtforward concept.

The first interactive scene, after the text "Begin To Seek Escape", is the word "Self". Starting off simple, this only sets the stage for what has yet to come. To progress, the user simply has to move the mouse around the word and eventually nudge it out of view. At that point more monologue is displayed to further enhance the message.

The next scene of interaction places a supposed closet door infront of the user that reads "CLOSETS OFFER SECURITY" with the word "OFFER" as a handle. Upon clicking on and dragging this handle, the user can open the door to reveal what lies beneath. Letting go allows the door to swing shut. However, to proceed, this obsticle needs to be overcome. To counter this assumed protection provided by this closet door, the user needs to swiftly yank the doors o the right which will, in essence, break them off the hinges giving way to where the "Self" ended up.

This "Self" is being hung by the expectations on a bar of everyday life which is supported by the two walls of religion and corporation. Alone, the "Self" will simply swing to a stop and hang indefinitely. The user at this point can grab onto and swing the "Self" left and right, when upon hitting either of the two walls hard enough, one of five so-called "lives" will fall out of the "Self". Hitting the "Self" against the religious wall will propell a life towards "Eternal Blass" though will never reach and stay there, while hitting the "Self" against the corporate wall will shoot a life down towards "Career Success". When all 5 lives have been expelled, more text will be displayed.

After that text, the lives will be seen falling through the air, at one point passing the word "GRACE" (to fall from Grace)... eventually landing on multiple letters which spell "INSANITY" a few times that take on the effect of water. The background consists of the words "condemned" which flickers on and off as dictated by the random actions of a "¿" light. Dropping the lives off the edge of insanity will lead them to damnation, but not before one of two creatures either made of the words "Friends" or "Family" attempts to snatch the word in its fall. After all the lives have been dropped, more text will ensue folled by the last interactive scene.

The last scene simply displays each life engulfed in a fire of damnation in a setting which would seem to lead to be hell. The smoke rising from these flames rise up to what was where these lives came from - spelling "admonish" which is a forewarning to any "life" which may be in fear of taking the same path to damnation. Clicking on any one of the 5 lives will display the last phrase in the monologue which concludes the piece.