Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley

by 
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley. Portrait. Courtesy of the artist.

On morality and video games — Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley answers our questionnaire.

What are you working on at the moment?
I’m working on this show called The Soul Station with LAS Art Foundation at Halle am Berghain. Essentially, there’s two new commissions in that show. One is called You Can’t Hide Anything, which is a big morality test. The game decides if you’re a good or bad person. Well, you decide if you’re a good or bad person by the decisions you make throughout the game. That game is played by everyone who’s sitting in that area. There’s one person that controls where you go and everyone else can vote alongside your choices. You get posed choices such as »Do you think somebody’s a more inherently dangerous person than others?«. Your answers decide whether you live or die. This is decided through a group vote, a democratic vote. So you may say »yes«, someone else may say »no« and the aggregate wins. 

Do you have a daily ritual?
My daily ritual is just getting up, jumping on the computer and starting to make a blender file. I do a render every day. I have these rules, where I have 15 minutes to model something and if it doesn’t get captured in those 15 minutes, it doesn’t. And if it does, it does. But whatever is modelled gets used. Even if it looks like rubbish, I still have to use it. So it’s 15 minutes to try and capture an emotion, some part of myself, an essence of something. 

What do you listen to while working?
Right now, I listen to a lot of my videos. But I also listen to podcasts. Recently I was listening to a podcast called Derelict, which is a kind of drama podcast. These podcasts are like movies, but without visuals. The sound is really amazing. A good place to listen to those is Q Code they have loads of amazing drama podcasts.  

Which book do you like to gift?
I don’t. I’ve never given a book as a gift. I’m much more likely to give you a game. The last games I gave as a gift were Baldur’s Gate 3‹ and Shipwrecked 64‹. But I’ve never given a book as a gift. Maybe it’s a good idea. 

Which art work would you like to have at home?
Precious Okoyomon made this amazing greenhouse with all these poisonous plants in it. I would love to have that in in my non-existent garden right now. It’s got this bear and butterflies. It would just be a nice place to go, but also a bit dangerous because all the plants are poisonous 

Your favourite exhibition venue in Berlin?  
HAU Hebbel am Ufer puts on these amazing art/play crossbreed events and they’re always super fascinating. Also, the Tischlerei has these alternative types of operas. They’re basically performances, but with people with operatic skills. Right now, those two are my favourites because I’m learning so much about how an exhibition could look or function. 

What accessory or object could you not be without?
It would probably be my phone. 

What keeps you going?
Legacy.  

Who would you like to meet?  
Hideo Kojima, Jordan Peele, Laverne Cox.  

What do you look forward to after you’ve finished work?
Most days, a day of work ends around 11 or 12 PM. Sometimes I enjoy playing board games. Otherwise, sleeping, seeing my girlfriend, relaxing and occasionally watching a series on Netflix. Every time I finish an intense day of work, I look forward to and think about what the next project is going to be. I’m a non-stop kind of person. I’m wrapping up this show and my brain has already started planning the next add-on. What could it be? I work in extensions. I begin thinking of the next show from what I’ve learnt from a day of work. I guess the rest period is the beginning of the next piece. 

 

 

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