By Anjali Deshmukh
Mixed Media, Pervasive Installation. 2013.
In Dumbo Arts Festival, Brooklyn, NY.
Photo by Chasi Annexy.
Lila is a Sanskrit-origin word describing the Universe as the outcome of cosmic play. It’s about fate — whether the paths of our lives are pre-determined or up to us. Through our hardships, it can be incredibly difficult and painful to perceive play, but it’s also an invitation to see beauty and pattern in the systems of our Universe.
Micro-Fiction Game, Random Fortune Generators, and Visions of the Future all root themselves in Lila. Installed on a cobblestone street in Dumbo during the 2013 Dumbo Arts Festival as part of a group show with the South Asian Women’s Creative Collective, Random Fortune Generators was a game board of about 900 unique events. Some of them were mundane, others were fantastical, some were about family, others were about sensory experiences.
At the beginning, creators picked a penny with a number on it. They knew the number stood for one of about 900 emotions, but they didn’t yet know which one. They were invited to put their penny down on an event on the game board. Some people pick events that were connected to their real lives or experiences; others related to things they wished for; others purely imaginary. At the other end of the board, they found out which emotion their number stood for and were invited to write a simple story making sense of the two together.
For example: I see a ghost, and it makes me feel elation, because…
Creators put their stories on the street, going further and further down the block.
Why
When I first created this game, I wondered if it would have any of these 4 outcomes. It turned out that it had all 4.
- Could it help spark creativity or overcome writer’s block? Yes. Writers and non-writers alike found unexpected inspiration. The format unlocked play, emotion, and narrative from people who were struggling creatively.
- Could it invite people to see life from multiple perspectives? Yes. Matching random events to unknown emotions led people to inhabit unfamiliar points of view and feelings. Many said it changed how they thought about others’ experiences, and their own. Some people asked to volunteer to help others walk through the game, as I had helped them reflect on their emotions. 2 psychologists asked if they could use it in their practice.
- Could it help us surface what our communities are feeling and thinking? Yes. As people put down pennies, we began to notice patterns. For example, dozens of people chose the event: “I don’t finish something important.” The board became a kind of real-time survey or vote.
- Would people perceive Lila? Yes. Many people saw truths mirrored back to them, telling me the game was a fortuneteller, “read their mind,” or shared a hidden layer to their emotions that they hadn’t fully realized.
While I was told that 300 people were likely to participate, 8000 people came, standing in line to play, and I found out that people in local businesses had been spreading the word about my game to their customers.
