In the wake of the 21st century's unrelenting capitalist systems, the common populace has increasingly turned to digital escapism. Social media, video games, false realities - anything to regain control in an otherwise failing society.

What once stood as a space for the people, however, has soured under corporate hands. They've brought real into an unreal world; what ensues is confusion between company and social media, Elon Musk and the automobile, dystopia and utopia. In order to survive, this emerging digital-reality must exist outside of these scales to prevent further commodification and loss of digital public space.

This thesis has many interests: escapism as a response to sociopolitical strife, video games as a uniquely adaptable space, the cage that is the corporate uber-realistic render, lucidity within radicalization, and so on. "Instances of convergence," events where digital-reality confusion is so intense that a new pocket of contexted digitality is created, are dissected for their potential as spaces outside of the aforementioned scales of commodity. Can these weird tears in the digital fabric be repurposed as true spaces for us to simply exist again? If so, how?

Current endeavors include "screwing up" chosen instances until they become entirely new items, spaces, and events. An interactive browser experience, inspired by Cassie McQuater's Black Room and the Kid:Amnesia Exhibition, will be curated to set these assets loose into the world.