The Redemption Machines

2013, and ongoing.

The Redemption Machines is a piece that spans theatre, audio art, fiction and game. It explores the human-machine relationship in a given city.

In May 2013 The Redemption Machines was presented in Belfast. The participant arrived at a gallery, where they were given a mobile phone with a custom-designed app. They started listening to the story in the gallery through headphones, and the app led them around the city (through maps and instructions) through a fictional story that only they could hear, that they experienced individually. The story, about the membrane between the human and machine worlds, drew directly upon Belfast’s architectural and social history, and the locations were activated by the participant’s imagination.

The Redemption Machines activates urban public space with history and fiction. It explores the borders between reality and fantasy, public and private, presence and absence, present and past, as well as the relationship between what is seen and what is heard. I’m looking forward to re-activating The Redemption Machines in other cities, re-writing the story for more cities and social histories.

I wrote the script, designed the interface and user experience, recorded and produced the audio, and performed at the gallery as the facilitator during the production. I was assisted in the process of technical implementation by Pete Haughie, who worked miracles with Phonegap and JavaScript.

Listen to the piece that the BBC did on The Redemption Machines here:

Watch a short video about the project here:

Listen to the introductory track of The Redemption Machines: Belfast here: