IMAGINATION LANDS “Venture into the fictional realm of “Canada” where giant fire-breathing politicians rule dark caverns, hoarding treasures and oppressing creative freedoms. You are a group of aspiring arts adventurers employing your knowledge of the Canadian arts ecology and your unbridled creativity as you traverse the paths of darkness, stop the forces of corruption, and save our land from mediocrity.”
IMAGINATION LANDS is a performative installation where artists work together to “play” a very complex role-playing-style board game. In all role-playing games a primary storyteller leads a group of players on an adventure where obstacles are overcome through joint effort. IMAGINATION LANDS is no different, with Clayton Windatt leading the story and bringing a group of artists and peers through a participatory collaborative exploration presented as performance art.
“Clayton Windatt’s IMAGINATION LANDS is a cascading adventure of art, fantasy and Canadian politics explored through multi-arts provocation in the form of a role-playing game.”
IMAGINATION LANDS is a huge multi-arts mashup of art forms combined into one overall immersive experience. Game pieces and the game board itself are sculptural creations using many techniques from various arts backgrounds including porcelain, 3D design, rubber/plastic casting, wood working, metal fabrication, stone carving and miniatures building. Paper-based resources are used as tools for playing the game, employing many visual arts techniques, especially drawings for character and monster description sheets. LED lighting and media-installations add to the environment, complimenting gameplay and establishing higher levels of immersiveness. This cascading adventure of art, fantasy and Canadian politics is explored through multi-arts provocation where “players” perform by playing the game, fighting through a visually represented fantasy realm with all forms of twisted manifestations of real-life opposition figures including bosses such as Stephen Harper as a Jabberwocky-style dragon and Justin Trudeau as a seven-headed serpent.
“The shadow of any government is darkest and most menacing when standing in the presence of their monuments and elected officials.” – Clayton Windatt