Blast Theory has a long history of making social and political work, drawing on popular culture, performance, technology and games. Our new video gives a taste of some of the projects and people over the years that have made Blast Theory what it is. We’ve made work in all kinds of virtual and physical spaces, from the 12 hour reconstruction of a murder in Invisible Bullets in the 1990s, to our 2017 installation on the spread of SARS from a hotel room in Hong Kong. Both of these projects appear in the video.
Below is a little more detail about each of the works that feature in the video above. The projects are listed in the order they appear. To see the full chronology of Blast Theory work, take a look here.
You interact with Karen through an app. When you begin, she asks you some questions about your outlook on the world to get an understanding of you. In fact, her questions are drawn from psychological profiling questionnaires. She – and the software – are profiling you and she gives you advice based on your answers.
In 2018 Blast Theory were the first ever artists-in-residence at the World Health Organization in Geneva. A Cluster of 17 Cases is inspired by the stories like the 17 unsuspecting people who stayed on the 9th floor of the hotel on the night of Feb 21, 2003. These 17 people were subsequently identified as spreading the SARS virus to at least 546 people around the globe.
In A Machine to See With you are the lead in a heist movie. As you prepare to rob a bank, you are aware that the line between pretend crime and real crime are starting to blur.
The Thing I’ll be Doing For The Rest Of My Life (2013)
A crowd of people drag a trawler out of the water and through the streets of Nagoya. This public action was inspired by a trip to Sendai to interview fishermen who were involved in the Tsunami in 2011.
2097: We Made Ourselves Over (2017)
A science fiction project culminating in five films shot and shown on location in the UK and Denmark with accompanying smartphone app and immersive performances, taking audiences on a journey into a speculative future.
In My One Demand seven people stride out across Toronto in an interactive film about unrequited love. The film was made in a single continuous shot that was streamed live.
Shot and streamed live from an army base. Bloodyminded asks us to consider our own relationship with violence, as individuals and as members of a society that continues to wage wars on our behalf. Starring the brilliant Isis Davis and Theo Barklem-Biggs it was co-commissioned by 14-18 NOW.
Hurricane is a commission for the redevelopment of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum in Geneva. Up to 25 players work together around a circular touch sensitive table to prepare their island for an incoming hurricane.
The winners of a lottery get kidnapped. Entrants paid £10 to enter a lottery in the hope of being kidnapped. Ten finalists were chosen at random and put under surveillance.
In I’d Hide You, three runners on the streets of Manchester must film each other without getting filmed themselves.
Invisible Bullets is an installation/performance that was first performed in Hoxton, London in July 1994. The work was performed for two days and looked at the obsession with crime and reconstructions.
My Point Forward is an interactive installation that invites you to explore your future city and your place within it. Featuring a series of short films, this interactive installation gathers recordings from visitors to build a portrait of the future that is personal, provocative and filled with hope.
See more Blast Theory from the 1990s right up to what we’re working on this year in the full project chronology at Our Work.