Virtual Ritual

Jan Mocek’s original project introduces spectators to the parallel world of online video games (MMOG). Today, the digital society consists of millions all over the world who log in every day and spend time in vast game worlds with endless entertainment possibilities without the demanding limits and torments of reality. Well, every game has its own rules. Urban planner and architect Osamu Okamura, YouTuber Atlet (Ondřej Pokorný), and photographer and gamer Adéla Vosičková will create a specialist game panel in the show. They expose the hidden mechanisms, norms, rules, codes, prototypes, and rituals of an apparently carefree world. What rules and rituals do we actually go through? Through live video, 3D animations and YouTube formats, the authors of this original gaming performance expose the concealed links between the real and virtual worlds.

This production was co-selected by the Audience Programme Board of the BeSpectACTive! project.

concept, direction, set: Jan Mocek
performers: Osamu Okamura, Adéla Vosičková, Ondřej Pokorný (Atlet)
artistic collaboration: Irina Andreeva, Sodja Lotker, Táňa Švehlová
lighting: Patrik Sedlák
sound: Ladislav Štěrba
video: Ondřej Pokorný (Atlet), Jan Mocek
photo: Adéla Vosičková
co-produced by: Divadlo Archa / Archa Theatre, SixHouses

The performance is supported by the Czech Ministry of Culture.

presentation at Divadelná Nitra supported by the Slovak Arts Council, The Creative Europe Programme of the European Union, the Nitra Self-Governing Region, The City of Nitra, SPP Foundation, LITA — authors’ society

This production was co-selected by the Audience Programme Board of the BeSpectACTive! project.

Jan Mocek (1986) is an artist whose projects oscillate along the border between theatre and visual arts. In his performances, he combines elements of pop culture, politics and documentary, focusing on contemporary themes, whilst trying to offer the viewer an atmosphere and an emotional experience. His latest projects – Radiant City (Zářící mesto, 2015), Shadow Meadow (2017), Fatherland (2018), Virtual Ritual (2019), I am the problem (2020) – featured at Czech and international festivals, such as Fast Forward Dresden (Germany), Submerge Digital Arts Festival (United Kingdom), 4+4 days in Motion (Czech Republic), Use the City Košice (Slovakia). He collaborates with Táňa Švehlová within the framework of his own SixHouses production platform. He is member of the European platform for art in public space IN SITU.

“Youtuber Atlet is the protagonist in the game, showing the darker side of the city. Like most players who flee to Los Santos mainly to seek violence and a lack of rules, he uses public gains to improve himself and acquire wealth. ‘It’s a game where success is measured in money. You can get them the fastest by robbing people or robbing a bank,’ Atlet comments on his digital character on the screen. He moves around the city as an unscrupulous person who enjoys weapons, stealing cars and provoking people. The photographer Adéla Vosičková comes into contact with the programmed characters the most, walking through the digital city, holding her telephone. Sh photographs and comments on how individual characters behave, what their role and social status are. (…) Compared to the real world, a video game allows one to exceed the fundamental norms of conduct, so the player can beat, bribe or insult anyone and then watch how the programmed person behaves. In the second half of the production, the players become the protagonists of a real city. In the video, which the authors filmed in by the Prague neighbourhood of Florenc, they act like avatars, who hit the realities and characters from real world.” (Magdaléna Medková, aktualne.cz, 7. 10. 2019)