Where the worlds of gaming and live performance intersect you’ll find Blast Theory - don't miss your chance to play their urban game this November as Can You See Me Now? hits Chicago.

Blast Theory performs "Can You See Me Now?" Image credit and courtesy of the artists.

ARE YOU IN?

Not in Chicago? Not a problem. You can log on from anywhere in the world to become a voyeur - or live prey.

WHAT IS CAN YOU SEE ME NOW?

Can You See Me Now? is a chase game played simultaneously online and on urban streets. Online players anywhere in the world are dropped at random locations into a virtual city map which correlates exactly to an area of a real city where Blast Theory performers use GPS technology to track and 'catch' their virtual opponents. Online players can exchange tactics online and listen to their pursuers through a live audio stream as they flee.

Can You See Me Now? explores how mobile technology (including cell phones, GPS, and broadband internet) has dramatically changed the nature of our communications and how we relate to each other. It's not only that the zones of private and public space have become blurred, it's also that possibilites for human connection are in flux.

Can You See Me Now? takes the fabric of a city and uses the overlay of a virtual city to explore ideas of absence and presence. By sharing the same 'space', players online and runners on the street enter into a relationship that is adversarial, playful and ultimately filled with pathos as they muse on absence and presence, and what possibilities there are for intimacy.

WHAT'S BLAST THEORY?

Blast Theory is an adventurous group of UK artists who use interactive media technology to involve audiences in real and virtual environments. Their eerie, fascinating performances confront a media-saturated world where popular culture rules and we struggle to navigate our changing space. Using video, computers, performance, installation, mobile and online technologies, Blast Theory asks questions about the ideologies present in the information that envelops us.