Carrying Capacity (Series)

Carrying Capacity is an ongoing series that documents virtual performances. Each video depicts a turn-of-the-century man (or cowboy) interacting with land, plants, equipment, and critters through simple activities. The series consists of 15–30 minute machinimas— films made with video games, a portmanteau of 'machine' and 'cinema'. Whether the character is walking, horseback riding, or fishing, each video focuses on an extended act of carrying. In Carrying Capacity I, the protagonist/player spends several minutes holding a salmon he's caught. He paces slowly, pausing to stare out at the water. Scenes like this attempt to express a state of in-between; between extracting and storing; between living-with and dying-with. These scenes attempt to express a state of hybridity; blending human and nonhuman; blending care and violence. There moments of interconnection feel rich, strange, and potent in the context of global mass extinction. My work is concerned with repurpose and storytelling. Carrying Capacity is my quiet attempt to repurpose or rewrite the fantasy of the West. Playing the cowboy, I embody the problem of a Western settler like myself, a man whose historical authority 'won the west' through violence and cultural erasure. At the same time, this role-play creates a playful parallel between outlaw and artist. Two roles that might defy the mainstream, or at the very least, question it. The footage is harvested from the gunslinging blockbuster, Red Dead Redemption 2. While I typically turn to science-fiction games, RDR2 interests me as the embodiment of a cross-roads; an open world where the aesthetics of the Modernism and Romanticism meet. In Carrying Capacity II for example, a loud locomotive interrupts the protagonist's quiet walk through the hills. This crossroads of technology and nature is ideal for slowing down— by pacing softly and fishing patiently, I twist not just the game's fast pace, but the speed in which digital content is delivered by today's media platforms. As a 'Slow Cowboy,' I aim to create a subtle but strange meditation-space for the viewer. A space to reflect on ecologies afforded by the story of the wild, wild West. “It matters what matters we use to think other matters with; it matters what stories we tell to tell other stories with; it matters what knots knot knots, what thoughts think thoughts, what descriptions describe descriptions, what ties tie ties. It matters what stories make worlds, what worlds make stories.” (Donna Haraway, Staying with the Trouble, 2016)