M HKA Ensembles

Film, 00:72:00.

Collection: Courtesy of the artist.

Game Keepers without Game is based on the play La vida es sueño (‘Life is a Dream’) by the 17th-century writer Pedro Calderón de la Barca. She transposes Calderón’s philosophical game to a contemporary British setting. Her melodrama tells the story of a girl called Stay who is offered for adoption when she is 8 years old. When she is a teenager, her father tries to bring her back into the family. Stay’s destructive response to people and objects leads to her being taken away again, but she looks for a way back to the family.

The film’s scenes are played out against a monochrome white background and are alternated with stills of design objects. None of the people or objects touch each other, but stand next to each other aloofly. The camera, soundtrack, characters and voice-over each go their own way and only come together in the dramatic climax.