The year 2096: An android shaman roams the Taiwanese island of Formosa to rediscover ancient wisdom and prove the presence of the “third prince”, as the androgynous Chinese deity Nezha is affectionately called. Her multiple incarnations are manifested in various contexts of popular entertainment and religious heritage in Taiwan and China. Berlin-based artist Choy Ka Fai's first game for HAU4, which provides a virtual space of possibility with the “third prince” as an avatar, manages to offer a narrative that's otherwise impossible due to the everyday political disputes between the two countries. The digital yet human-like representation of this deity manages to counteract the divide between the two states by emphasising the historical and current relationships between the populations, inviting us to imagine a future beyond the current conflicts.
Let's play (duration: 30 mins.) with Sebastian Schneider
The Let's play introduces the new game to a live audience, similar to the format of a live stream that introduces new game releases to an online community. This format allows the audience to experience “The Third Prince” with additional commentary on the content and design.
Talk (duration: 30 mins.) with Choy Ka Fai, moderated by Nora Wölfing
The conversation will discuss the influence of digital technologies on belief systems and a possible future design. The role of storytelling in the overlapping fields of social policy, artificial intelligence and the supernatural will be discussed.
Nora Wölfing is an art historian, sinologist, curator and journalist. Together with Amely Deiss and Malte Lin-Kröger, she is the editor of the book “LuYang. Digital Descending”.