Video game + virtual reality experience, 2025
Distributed by Diversion
The Siren is a video game artwork that challenges the conventions of play, narrative, and agency. It questions why we act in games, why we obey their rules so readily, and what kind of meaning we expect our actions to produce. Designed for an art exhibition context, the work is accessible to players unfamiliar with video games, while offering deeper layers of interpretation for those who know their codes.
The game begins with a familiar setup: you control a heroine in shimmering armor, guided by an omniscient narrator, apparently tasked with rescuing a damsel in distress. Yet before this “main quest” can begin, you are instructed to complete a minor one: collecting glowing seashells scattered along a deserted beach at dusk. As the game progresses, the narrator’s voice grows increasingly present and insistent. What begins as guidance turns into command, and the player is pushed to comply. This gradual takeover foregrounds a central question: why do we obey authority in games so easily? And what happens when we refuse?
The Siren draws a parallel between the logic of side quests, such as collecting hundreds of Korok seeds in The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and the way we structure our lives around various tasks in order to distract ourselves from the certainty of death. Learning new skills, optimizing routines, falling in love: we remain in motion, hoping that meaning will eventually emerge through repetition. These self-imposed rituals function as fragile buffers against the void, temporary systems of meaning designed to keep existential anxiety at bay.
At its core, The Siren also questions the fantasy of romantic salvation: the belief that saving someone, or finding an “other half,” might finally make us whole, that love, might shield us from the absurdity of existence, that if we are the main character, the story must lead somewhere. The player’s journey unfolds through subtle choices, leading to multiple endings. The so-called “good ending” is difficult to reach, and offers no real resolution.
