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'Loser Gem'

  • Date:2018-03-10
'Loser Gem'

In the video game Monster Hunter by Japanese company CAPCOM is a rare collectable gem called Lrg Elder Dragon Gem, and it is described in the game as, “A giant, ultra-rare stone that forms inside an Elder Dragon once in a millennium.” For the hunters in the game, or the players, this is an important material needed for the production of superior gear. However, for the Elder Dragon, this gem that has been inside its body for what could be considered eternity by human standards is perhaps…just a kidney stone? Departing the world of the game and returning back to reality, as a mediocre person that has been through the twists and turns between everyday life and endeavors in art, perhaps, something has also amassed inside my body. I am just not all that entirely sure about it. For those of you reading this, what do you think that “thing” is? No worries, perhaps we could just refer to it as Loser Gem.


However, just like the players must slay the powerful Elder Dragon in the game in order to have the rare opportunity to extract the gem from the dragon’s dead body, I have also locked the final part of this artwork inside a safe placed on the site of the exhibition. The passcode could only be figured out from the clues provided by the artwork’s interactive mechanisms. Do you wish to obtain the passcode? Are you able to obtain it? Do you see the gem as something that is precious and hard to get? Or perhaps it is just a piece of useless stone? Are there any traces left behind from its conception? Is it that cloudy, slimy goo that is on its surface, which is still slightly warm? Is it that light that is subtly flickering in the cracks? Perhaps it is a series of chaotic noises that is pounding on memories stored deep down inside? Throughout the attempt of trying to obtain the gem, was anything missed along the way as my field of vision narrows down due to the passing of time?


The various different anticipations, recognitions, and comprehensions between the receivers and the producers or the different possibilities seem to have opened up a void before my eyes. Like a big gate that has opened up, a gate made up of pieces of my own lived experiences, it lures imaginations in to pass through. To imagine is a basic instinct; it is used by humans to fill empty voids. This instinct is able to grow or decline due to the accumulation of knowledge and lived experiences, but it would never vanish. All in all, what I am offering is merely just a transition for imagination, and perhaps after the transition will come boundless possibilities or maybe emptiness. I am not willing nor am I able to give; everything is left to freely unfold.


‘Loser Gem’