One story can be replaced by another, but it never disappears completely. Palimpsest is a collective imaginal dimension formed from stories that have accumulated, overlapped and overwritten one another. Four fictional beings move through this space, pursued by a network of sentient data centers intent on absorbing every story into a single model.

Palimpsest is a game for one player, as well as an installation and interactive film for multiple visitors. The player chooses one of four characters, each separated from the story world in which they first came into being: Av’Ril, a cyborg carrying the last breath of her world; Kura, a spider; Lantern, a sleepless spirit; and Zeetee, a former military drone. Each is linked to a particular style of gameplay and a distinct storytelling tradition: oral, written, visual, and digital. The player’s choices and actions then affect the film: scenes appear or disappear, while both image and sound can become distorted after a wrong move in the game.

This project has been supported through funding from the Creative Industries Fund NL, the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science, and CIIIC