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Soft Power

Which Way?

Nicholas Aloisio-Shearer

2021, interactive video game, time and dimensions variable.
Commissioned by Firstdraft. Courtesy the artist
Special thanks to Max Athans for producing the 3D Character Models.

Soft Power presents experimental responses, new critiques and speculative futures in the face of myriad power systems we must confront and dismantle. Like his peers, Nicholas Aloisio-Shearer explores what is obscured and nullified in emergent and established systems of power.

Which Way? brings you the dating sim experience you've been waiting for. Enter a strange world and find a way to charm the three manifestations of online masculinity that will vie for your affections! Will you embrace the nervous and seemingly inoffensive Beta Soybo? Or will the strength and self-assurance of the Alpha Chaddeus sway your heart? Perhaps the elusive Shrigma-male Agaricus will mesmerise you with his lone-wolf attitude? Venture forth and choose your destiny in this mysterious world, throbbing with potential and begging for you!

Will you be able to discover a way to live in this world you have found yourself in? Experience corporeal bliss in one of five different endings or uncover the secret path to transcendence.

Nicholas Aloisio-Shearer is an artist whose practice is concerned with the digital conditions of contemporary life. His practice engages with the cultural functions of imaging technologies and examines how networked cultures are shaped by the technologies and images they exist within. He has exhibited in a number of galleries including UNSW Galleries and Milani Gallery, and artist-run spaces including Firstdraft (Sydney), Kudos Gallery (Sydney) and Bus Projects (Melbourne). He graduated with Honours from a Bachelor of Design in Photography and Situated Media at UTS in 2014 and in 2019 completed a Masters of Fine Art (Research) at UNSWAD.

www.nicholasaloisioshearer.com

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