Anhedonia

OIOION and SHEYMN, a pair of divine beings whose thwarted passion tears a wound from which civilization is generated, producing the Four Alimonies of the intelligible universe and the task of collective emancipation.

The fifty-minute piece is set amidst a lightning storm which splices together two realities: a virtual, seaside Italian villa created in Sims, and New York City, shot with a camera. The rupture forms a third suburban, autumnal realm. Ariadne1, of New York and played by the artist, decides she wants to disappear, allowing lightning to transport her into a virtual realm. The simulated Ariadne2 is seen with a red lightning scar upon her chest—a trace of the act, which she carries with her back into the live-action scene that concludes the film.

Jacky Connolly created Descent Into Hell through two different forms of technology. She realized some scenarios as photorealistic 3D animations, incorporating AI image enhancement and “deep fake” audiovisual techniques. For others, she filmed within a modified version of the video game Grand Theft Auto V. The game engine’s built-in editor stores player-recorded scenes as data, which can be altered and sequenced. She has described the narrative arc of the video as “a woman is alone in her apartment in an empty, abandoned world. This opens onto a story of a woman in an alternate timeline on a journey through California. She rides freight trains, explores hidden corners of the city, and encounters strange happenings along the way.” Connolly named the video after a novel by Doris Lessing featuring an amnesiac whose body lies in a hospital bed while his mind roams elsewhere.