Specultors In Shush, Claire Tolan – Blitz Residency

SPECULATORS IN SHUSH, the closing exhibition of Claire Tolan’s residency at BLITZ, was presented on Saturday, 5 March, from 19h. The exhibition had two components. First, a role-playing game (RPG), which Claire has been developing throughout her time here: Die SPEKULANTEN vor den SIEDLERN von SHUSH (dSvdSvS). The role-playing game is loosely based on EVERWAY, a visionary – but commercially unsuccessful – tabletop RPG created in 1995.

Four or five attendees “play” dSvdSvS as a performance during the exhibition. Claire Tolan presided over the game as the facilitating Game Master, or, in the lingo of dSvdSvS, the SHUSH MASTER. She further created a thematic soundscape which underlies the game, and triggered different sonic cues throughout the performance.

Role-playing games require each player to create a character, whose identity the player assumes, and through whom the player experiences the game’s events. The other half of SPECULATORS IN SHUSH comprises an audio tour, which guides attendees through the quite complex process of character creation. In dSvdSvS, characters are known as SPECULATORS. All attendees received a beautiful SPECULATOR’S MANUAL when they arrived, which contains instructions for SPECULATOR creation that work in tandem with the audio tour.

The Blitz Residency Programme is supported by Valletta 2018 Foundation.

See more on www.blitzresidency.com and www.thisisblitz.com