Johan Amatsakio (UK)
2026
Interactive installation
Video Game
Dimensions variable
Artist bio:
Johan Amatsakio is a British and Dutch-Surinamese-Javanese writer, performer, game developer, and drag artist. Performing as their masked, extraterrestrial alter ego, Bard The Beholder, their interdisciplinary storytelling explores queerness, fantasy, and colonial legacy through expressive methods such as eco-conscious costuming, interactive live performance, and utilizing horror to explore their lived experience as a fantastical entity. Currently in Taiwan, they are pursuing a master’s degree spanning research on Javanese contract labor in Suriname to the politics of identity in Leigh Bowery’s work.
Johan Amatsakio 是一位英國及荷屬蘇利南-爪哇裔（Dutch-Surinamese-Javanese）的作家、表演者、遊戲開發者與變裝藝術家。他們化身為蒙面外星化身（Bard The Beholder）進行表演，其跨領域的敘事透過具備環保意識的服裝設計、互動式現場表演，以及利用恐怖美學來探索自身作為幻想生物的生命經驗，進而解構酷兒、奇幻與殖民遺產等議題。他們目前在台灣攻讀碩士學位，其研究範疇橫跨蘇利南的爪哇契約勞工，到雷·鮑威里（Leigh Bowery）作品中的認同政治。
Artwork description:
Saminah is a drag-and-drop game that explores tensions between public and personal archives through intertwined fiction and non-fiction narratives. The player assumes the role of an assistant archivist tasked with uploading records about a Javanese contract laborer who migrated from Java to Suriname in the early 20th century, part of a broader labor movement following the abolition of slavery in 1863. Through its visual language, narrative voice, and system design, the game critically interrogates archival practice.
《Saminah》是一款拖放式（drag-and-drop）遊戲，透過虛構與非虛構交織的敘事，探索公共檔案與個人檔案之間的張力。玩家在遊戲中扮演助理檔案員，任務是上傳一名在20世紀初從爪哇移民到蘇利南的爪哇契約勞工的紀錄——這是1863年廢除奴隸制後更廣泛的勞工運動的一部分。該遊戲透過其視覺語言、敘事觀點與系統設計，對檔案實踐進行了批判性的詰問。