Voodoo Machinery

 

Why for Gods sake do you keep a model of an offshore drilling platform in your sim? being a land owner you can delete it or return it to its builders with just one keystroke… SHAME, You must get rid of it as soon as possible! etc.

Many avatars are a confused when they visit the gas rig at the edge of the sim. They are even more confused when they find out that I build the platform with my own hands. That is, together with herman Bergson, who kindly provided the scripted parts like the drilling mechanism and the crane. I build the platform and the rig chamber, the tower, the pumps, generator and the toilet for the crew and I made all those sound files humming, scratching and drumming. It was a sickening job and it lasted for weeks.

The installation is a statement, because I am the real danger for mankind and you are, we all are. The question of innocence inevitably begs the question of guilt, that was the motivation behind this cranky gas drilling platform. How could I possibly build this lovely, dream loaded Virtual Ameland without the dark side of reality and it´s horrors, it would be like paradise without the snake…

On the operating floor, there are three levers, with the black one you start the diesel engine and the generator, the green one starts the drilling mechanism and the pipe chuck… with the red controls the pipe crane. The drilling fluid is pumped right into the sea – like in the old days.

Perhaps you’re not in too much of a hurry; maybe you’ll have some time to spare, you come and sit here on this rusty operating floor and play with these levers, there is an old chair over there… Your thoughts start to enrol, planning your actions and your time; work preoccupations; financial anxieties; domestic problems; sexual fantasies. You contemplate your ageing face, what can you do about it? You think about the latest scandal. Actually, you never see the difference before or after a scandal… but what else is there to think about? Eliminate those thoughts, and you’ll agree there’s not much left, accept playing with these levers and the humming and the drumming of the drill underneath you.