RUN MOTHERFUCKER RUN

An upscaled version of the original documentation 
RMR is an interactive installation whereby anyone may try their luck in a city of empty streets, deserted intersections, ominous alleyways, and unexpected obstacles. When you take a position on the treadmill, you are subjected to a mix of film and 3D imagery. The distance you run on the conveyor belt is the same distance you will cover in the virtual city in front of you. By quickening your pace, the belt's acceleration and the image's speed increase. The film's progress is determined depending on your running behavior and the directional choices you make. A film with an atmosphere somewhere between a thriller chase and urban horror.
The interface is a manipulated industrial assembly line with electronically variable speed. The interface will not allow the most natural navigation through the virtual environment. On the contrary, it is an individual element with its own will. The conveyor belt can only move straight ahead, and you must move to see the image. Although you are free to determine the speed of the belt, only if you run fast will you get an optimum image at full brightness. As you slow down, the picture fades. So physically, there is a mechanized pressure to keep up the pace and an urgency to hold onto the imagery of the world in front of you. This, in combination with the tangible power of the machine, creates a temperamental balance between control and non-control of the situation you voluntarily entered into when you first stepped on the treadmill.

Credits: 
In collaboration with Reinier van Brummelen, Noud Heerkens, and Boris Debackere. Co-production: Productiehuis Rotterdam, V2_lab, ZKM. Supported by Gemeente Rotterdam, Fonds beeldende Kunsten Vormgeving en Bouwkunst, Rotterdams Fonds voor de Film en Audiovisuele Media, Rotterdamse Kunststichting, Centrum Beeldende Kunst Rotterdam, Thuiskopie Fonds.