According to a recent report by the UNHCR (United Nations Refugee Agency), wars, violence, human rights violations, and environmental disasters have increased the number of displaced people to 114 million people. Human lives from the most disparate cultures and origins, uprooted and on the run, 75% of which have been hosted by low- and middle-income countries, far from the sight of the wealthier. In this climate of geopolitical uncertainty and conflict escalation, the artist Rhett Tsai has created a project that addresses the concept of war not so much as a contrast between good and evil, but as a source of transversal and immensely complex historical emotions. The work How Deep Is the Dark Water? is an experimental video game in which the spectator-player, subjectively, follows a man on the run through settings, thoughts, memories, and visions, exploring scene after scene the separation, fear, violence and emotional weight that these experiences have meant for individuals of the most diverse origins. The stories of the people who are forced to flee today add up to the stories of previous generations who were no longer able to return to their homes and both merge into the same feelings that the work wants to evoke, albeit superficially, in the players. Water, an element that has always demarcated borders and horizons, here becomes the element of continuity between the minimalist and mainly black and white settings. The player is not able to understand whether his role is that of the pursued or the pursuer, always remaining behind the main figure without ever being able to see his face and without a clear destination, as is often the case with wandering displaced persons during conflicts.

 

Rhett Tsai – How Deep Is the Dark Water?