Alice Bucknell's The Alluvials is a groundbreaking hybrid of video game and film. This project, set in a speculative near-future Los Angeles, engages with the the politics of drought and water scarcity through a unique narrative lens, presented at Killscreen’s new gallery space in Los Angeles.
What distinguishes The Alluvials is its commitment to exploring these pressing issues through the perspectives of non-human entities and elemental forces, such as the Los Angeles River, wildfire, and even the storied ghost of P-22, the city's famed mountain lion. The Alluvials is structured as a multi-chapter journey, spread across seven distinct worlds, using a game engine to craft a narrative that oscillates through time. This method allows the artist to explore possible futures and revisited pasts, creating a dynamic storytelling experience that challenges traditional linear narratives. By harnessing technologies like drone mapping, stable diffusion algorithms, and cinematic modding within the Grand Theft Auto V engine, the project crafts a parafictional world that is as visually enthralling as it is thought-provoking.
Each chapter of The Alluvials engages with different strands of speculative fiction and ecological theory in crafting engaging and meaningful narratives. The settings range from a synthetic water corporation’s storefront with a backdrop of burning Malibu, to a desertified downtown Los Angeles haunted by the swarm intelligence of wolves. These vivid scenarios invite players to immerse themselves in a world where a moth and a Joshua tree dream reciprocally in the ruins of the Hoover Dam, presenting a narrative that is both haunting and reflective.
The video game component of The Alluvials, developed in 2024, includes four levels, each set in a distinct environment where players assume the roles of conventionally non-playable characters, ranging from elemental forces to wildlife. This design choice not only diversifies gameplay but also enriches the narrative depth, allowing players to experience the ecological and thematic nuances firsthand. The game critically and creatively explores various gaming genres, such as first-person shooters and open-world explorations, reinterpreted through a speculative ecological lens.
Inspired by queer ecological theory and the concept of “difficult games”, The Alluvials challenges conventional game mechanics that center human players and predictable reward systems. Instead, it invites players to engage with gaming’s other affective capacities - such as failure and nonlinear progression - to reflect on the broader ecological implications of their in-game decisions. This approach not only highlights the potential of games as complex ecological systems but also prompts players to reconsider their relationship with the natural world.
The Alluvials is more than just a game or a machinima; it is a unique, visionary project that merges interactive media, ecological awareness, and speculative worldbuilding to address some of the most pressing issues facing contemporary society. Through its innovative narrative structure and immersive gameplay, it offers a compelling invitation to envision and engage with the future of our planet’s water systems and ecological health. As such, The Alluvials stands as a significant contribution to the fields of new media and environmental storytelling, promising to inspire and challenge its audience in equal measure.
Alice Bucknell is a North American artist and writer based in Los Angeles. Using game engines and speculative fiction, Bucknell’s work explores interconnections of architecture, ecology, magic, and non-human and machine intelligence. Bucknell is generally interested in the limits of scientific knowledge and systems thinking, the weird possibilities of play, and the ecological dimensions of games that can dissolve binaries like humans vs. environment, natural vs. synthetic intelligence, and self vs. world. They are the founder of New Mystics.
All images: Courtesy of the Artist and Killscreen
Alice Bucknell: The Alluvials (RSVP)
Killscreen
April 4th – May 4th 2024
5511 W. Pico Blvd.
Los Angeles, California
Read more about Alice Bucknell, The Alluvials (machinima, 2023); The Alluvials (video game, 2024)