Sunday, February 16, 2025 1:00 PM
Stamps Auditorium, Walgreen Drama Center
asses.masses
Created by Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim
Student tickets on sale Mon Aug 26
asses.masses is Animal Farm meets Pokémon meets Final Fantasy: as exciting in form as it is in content. No previous gaming (or donkey) experience required.
The unemployed donkeys have one demand: the humans must surrender their machines and give all donkeys their jobs back. But revolution is never easy!
asses.masses is a custom video game designed to be played from beginning to end by a live audience, one person at a time. This is gaming as performance; an immersive, cheeky, and highly original work about labor, technophobia, and sharing the load of revolution. Brave spectators take turns at the controller to lead the herd through a post-Industrial society, where asses are valued more for their hides than their potential.
Confronting automation driven job loss, nostalgia as a barrier to progress, and the role of technology in adaptation, we are encouraged to find space between the work that defines us and the play that frees us.
asses.masses is not designed for audiences to come and go anytime, or to arrive late. We encourage you to arrive on time, or you will miss the introduction. Intermissions take place every two episodes, approximately every 1.5 hours.
For additional information about accessibility, please review the show’s Access Guide.
All text in asses.masses is visually displayed on the screen. The show will be presented in English.
Buy Tickets
asses.masses
Created by Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim
Stamps Auditorium, Walgreen Drama Center
$30 (+ fees)
Student tickets on sale Mon Aug 26
CHOOSE A PERFORMANCE:
Or call the ticket office at 734-764-2538
* Student, Senior and Group Discounts may be available
asses.masses is created by a team of international artists led by Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim.
Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim are conceptual artists exploring urgent questions around the social value of art, digital labor, and the political potential of games. Mixing their backgrounds in performance, philosophy, psychology, and digital media, their collaborations have manifested in video games, participatory installations, digital archives, and card games. In addition to asses.masses, Patrick and Milton are also the co-founders of the Canadian national video archive of performance (videocan) and the co-creators behind a performing arts economy trading card game (culturecapital). Their projects have been presented across Canada, as well as in Argentina, Mexico, Europe, and the UK, in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and Catalan.