There’s a quote by Peter Greenaway in Eupalinos Ugajin’s profile. It reads:

The human imagination is surely the most amazing thing in the universe. We do not want virtual reality we want virtual unreality. We cannot replicate reality – why are we wasting our time trying?

It’ a quote that sums-up Eupa’s work perfectly. Whether working individually or collaboratively, there is always something about Eupa’s art that stretches the imagination, often with a sense of fun and a sprinkling of the wonderfully absurd.

Taxy! to the Zircus, now open at MetaLES demonstrates this in full; it’s a piece that challenges (defies?) description, taking one deep into the realm of Dada, and quite delightfully so, complete with a touch of Terry Gilliam to boot! It is also an installation that really does deserve the label “interactive art” – you are as much a part of the works on display as the works themselves.

Nothing should be ignored during explorations, and almost all the pieces on offer require your involvement via click-to-sit, be it dancing on a horn-spiked platform tethered to a spinning top, floating around in a sphere, bouncing on a trampoline, trying a new form of fencing with a hair dryer and paint brush (something I’d actually like to see taken-up as an Olympic sport!) or – in the greatest of circus traditions – being fired out of a canon (and hopefully through a target framed by a cow), and more besides.

Movement between the main platforms is achieved via teleport boxes, some of which are indicated by a Gilliam / Pythonesque pointing finger. Some elements of the work have a walkway connecting them, although speed and accuracy of walking across it is advised! Because there is a risk of falling involved in several of the pieces – and the fact they can only be reached via teleport boxes or flying – a set of wings can be obtained from the landing point; just turn on the tap / faucet (naturally!) to pour yourself a set!

Quite how one defines Taxy! to the Zircus is difficult; there are clear surrealist elements, the aforementioned twist of Dadism and, given the encouragement to experience some of the activities from the very first-person perspective of Mouselook, perhaps even a hint of phenomenology – or at least, phenomenological reflexion.

But perhaps definition isn’t required here; just your participation, and the sense of liberation through the lighthearted presentation of the absurd. So go, share, enjoy – Be. Taxy! will be open through until the end of December, and knowing Eupa, there may well be additions and tweaks during that time.

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