Survivor is both an artwork and a 3D video game. Set in Kiasma, the game takes a critical look at the complicated power plays at work in our everyday social encounters.

Anything to win

To succeed in the game, you will need negotiation skills and other social competencies. The players in the game form alliances and then vote off – depending on their chosen strategy – either the strongest or weakest contestants. The object of the game is to survive in the group and ultimately win the others at all costs.

The work is inspired by the reality TV show Survivor and the Online Reality Game (ORG) genre, a game of negotiation simulating the social mechanisms of reality TV.

Migrating across the genres of the moving image, installation and sculpture, Meriläinen examines social tensions, competitive power dynamics and the structures that work invisibly as instruments of discrimination. Rather than underlining the social content of her work, she takes a subtle approach, disguising her critique in a highly appealing visual package.

With the support from: AVEK The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture; The Paulo Foundation