Elvia Wilk: Ask Before You Bite

Love is often thought of as recognition—as seeing another for who they really are. But with recognition comes a fixing down of identity, which is inherently a form of control. Live-action roleplay (larp) is a form of participatory experience that questions the existence of fixed identity through a separation of player and character. Larping forces participants to un-see themselves as they think they are, and in the process to un-see the other in a fixed state. Certain forms of participatory narratives lend themselves particularly well to experiments in relational identity and exploring the intricacies of control within intimate relationships. Vampire larping is an example par excellence, because vampire-mortal relations offer such a succinct metaphor for coercion and control (not to mention for player-character "bleed"). What can the mechanics of care and consent within vampire roleplay reciprocally demonstrate about love beyond recognition? Can power play lead to an inversion of power reality?

Bio

Elvia Wilk is a writer and editor living in Berlin/NYC. She contributes to publications like Frieze, Artforum, the Architectural Review, Mousse, and Flash Art, and is currently a contributing editor at Rhizome and the publications editor for transmediale festival of arts and digital culture in Berlin.