RELOADED

New work by Roibí O Rua, as part of Project Arts Centre’s Short Cuts programme.

On the first weekend of each month, Project Arts Centre will publish a new work in partnership with RTÉ Culture.

Project Arts Centre has invited a number of artists, curators, and social activists, with a lived experience of intersectional discrimination, to discuss their practice and share ambitious and provocative new work, encouraging crucial dialogue around the impact of social and economic inequality. In this sixth installment, Project Arts Centre presents the work of multidisciplinary artist Roibí O Rua, as part of the Short Cuts programme.

Roibí O Rua is a multimedia artist and self proclaimed popstar based in Waterford City. Supported by the Arts Council she is a graduate of Limerick School of Art and Design and has exhibited work in the 39th EVA International and the 2021 RDS Visual Arts Awards. Hailing from a background of Queer Club Culture, paired with a love for all things Cyber, she creates work that explores Queer Identity as it relates to and evolves with Cyberspace. Her work takes the form of Music, 3D Modeling, Animation and Illustration, with an emphasis on digital and accessible methodologies. Her current works centre on the concept of the Trans identity as a Cyborg, drawing from Donna Haraway’s “Cyborg Manifesto”, VNS Matrix’ “Cyberfeminist Manifesto for the 21st Century” as well as her own Trans* Identity. https://www.d1g1tran.com/.

Reloaded is a new audiovisual project, consisting of a 4 track EP and visual works (illustration, 3d modeling, collage and animation) that act as a response to its predecessor D1g1tr@n.

Reloaded is the battle cry of a cyborg breaking free from the digital and adapting to the limitations of a physical environment.

Drawing from and queering Riot Grrl ideologies, and paying homage to Queer music cultures and cyberculture, Reloaded provides a framework to express the experience of transition, from one gender to another, from the online to the offline.

Commissioned by Project Arts Centre as part of the Short Cuts programme.

The DIGITRAN is a proposed archetype. The Trans Person as they exist, a cyborg, a being informed by reality and Cyberspace, one foot in each door. This project invites you along her journey, breaking free from the matrix. She tells you this through song, each track a chapter of her story, breaking away from the digital and facing reality.

The DIGITRAN being a product of the Cyberspace has the ability to take on many forms, here are two avatars of hers that exist within the game world of Re:Loaded. One is a reflection of her relationship with reality, she appears as a punk, a riot grrl, resonating with her angst and frustration with the realities of navigating society as a trans woman, as a queer body. The other is a uniform, inspired by the badass video game femmes along the lines of Lara Croft (Tomb Raider) and Jill Valentine (Resident Evil). This is what she dons in her battle against adversity.

The ultimate goal of this project is to culminate as a video game and discography that brings the world and story of the DIGITRAN to fruition. Upon starting the process of developing this world I created collages in response to my own experience as a DIGITRAN, reflecting on trans frustrations, exploring notions of transgender idealism. This project draws greatly from Riot Grrl ideology and methodology, playing on femme punk/ zine aesthetics, reclaiming a place for trans and queer identities in Punk and DIY.

A central concept of this work is the idea of radical self-metamorphosis, how as a trans person, cyberspace can grant this means of self-expression and exploration. An instant change in appearance and aesthetic, whether that be character customization, multiple avatars to choose from etc. In this proposed game there will be many iterations of the DIGITRAN to embody, one is seen in T-VIRUZ, a beat-em up survival horror stage, where her images pays homage to the likes of Resident Evil (the title of the track/level a direct reference to the virus seen in Resident Evil). RE: Loaded’s T-Virus is a tongue in cheek representation of gender dysphoria and the policing of trans women’s gender expression.

These images are the box art, an integral part of video game and cyber aesthetics. I grew up a PlayStation girl and this depiction of the DIGITRAN is one too. Her design maintains references to Riot Grrl while also embodying a touch of late 90s/early 00s nostalgia, taking visual inspiration from Urbz: Sims in the City, Crash Bandicoot, old gameboy and playstation ads etc. I look forward to developing this work further and seeing how the DIGITRAN manages to hack her way into living as she truly desires.