Uma Breakdown is an artist/writer/researcher who uses horror studies, feminist literature and queer role-playing-games to create art. For FACT Together, Uma has created Animal Agency, a downloadable game inspired by the concept of the ‘ahuman’. An alternative to ‘posthuman’, the term ‘ahuman’ proposes that animals can be recognised not in their relationships with or differences from humans, but as beings in their own right. Animals have a right to exist not because of what they are, but simply because they are.
Animal Agency is a multi-layered click and point video game, which you can download and play on your computer. The game exists in a world which moves between reality, art space and dreamscape and where non-human creatures guide the player into new ways of thinking and communicating. Uma has designed a world which guides the viewer, but which leaves room for constant interpretation, and rewards patience and exploration.
The game perfectly captures the itchy, fuzzy, sticky feelings of anxiety, unease and discomfort when you're not entirely sure where or who you are. It echoes the feeling which has characterised 2020 for many: the sluggish dragging need to rest, only to find that rest is not enough, or you’re physically unable to relax. But within this atmosphere, it also creates space for positivity, humour and playfulness. It highlights the pure visceral joy you can still feel in small immersive pleasures (like gaming, art-making, napping with dogs, or listening to death metal on full volume), and focuses on how our relationships with non-human folk and spaces can be the thing which ultimately reminds us of our humanity.
