Ouroborum

OUROBORUM is a game, an iOS app, and an art installation - a kinetic sculpture and reincarnation of classical snake game.

OUROBORUM is a fictional universe that includes a cyclical and related to each other parallel worlds in which ever comes the ‘Ouroboros’. The Ouroboros is an ancient symbol depicting a serpent or dragon eating its own tail from the Greek word for the mythological tail biting snake. The snake is a common symbol for the cycle of life and renewal. The game provides an astute commentary on the vast construction occurring in Baku, Azerbaijan which is undergoing a fast process of reinvention. Aesthetically OUROBORUM employs Islamic geometry common to both traditional and modern Azerbaijani architectural and cultural motifs and draws from carpet design, textiles and jewelry, and is accompanied by artificially created sounds inspired by elements taken from Azerbaijani traditional musical instruments. The audio and visual sensation of the game borrow from a pattern language that is both systematic and irregular and intended to contrast tradition with new technologies and gaming culture. OUROBORUM aspects include play as generally a voluntary act, executed but not limited to certain fixed limits of time and place and mentally and physically challenging, and is separated from reality through a sanctioned play space and through agreed but not limited upon fantasy or rule set. The objective of the game is to find your own way to manipulate the snake ( element) and create new structures by collecting geometric shapes all the while maintaining control over the snake ( element), which is operated by an accelerometer that increases in both speed and volume with each advancing structure. Once reached a certain amount of elements a Ouroborus applies to itself forthcoming elements and enters next structure, hence creating a never ending cycle of renewal. In addition OUROBORUM allows the player to go beyond default adjustments of the game liberating the participant to take full control of the ‘element’ and ‘structure’ by adjust the desirable settings for number of elements, element step, motion, scale, rotation factor, camera motion and camera distance. As an installation project in a form of kinetic sculpture space and sound take on a physical quality in OUROBORUM by creating a complete new sense and perception of reality, thereby encouraging the creation of “sculptures of the mind”.

The app OUROBORUM is available free for download form App store ( iTunes) for all iOS devices.

Artist/Collaborators: Nazrin Mammadova, Anton Filatov, Ernest Yakovlev.

With the support of YARAT Contemporary Art Space as part of Public Art Festival (2015)