Which Dear Tears Prey / Wood Hares Flea Whether / Dew Bears Cents Beats / … is a game and collaborative performance that explores the essence of artistic collaboration itself. Inspired by James Carse’s concept of the “infinite game” – which the scholar contrasted with scripted and predictable “finite games” characterized by winners and losers, fixed boundaries and rules – the game embraces and encourages collective creation, hybridity, and the transcending of individual identities. It encourages active participation in the making of the game itself, rather than fixation on specific outcomes. People come together to create, learn to collaborate, or simply exist in a space where they can transcend their individual selves.

In this game, through a sequence of cards, players are invited into a game-world where they imagine themselves as more-than-humans, extending their own human senses and perspectives with other animal- or insect attributes. In order to learn from, perform or try to embody the various non-human species with their particular abilities, sensations, and relation to the world, players are asked to complete individual tasks and participate in collaborative activities such as creating transformative rituals, an infinite poem, or new skin for a collective body.

Overview of game circles in the exhibition “What Comes Next?” at Kunstverein Reutlingen, photo: Amy Patton

Overview of game circles in the exhibition “What Comes Next?” at Kunstverein Reutlingen, photo: Amy Patton

Example of playing card from game circle one

Example of playing card from game circle two

Example of playing card from game circle three

Example of playing card from the final game circle four