Is Utility down?

A proposal for enlightened corporations with a concern for the social implications resulting from prolonged neglect of human needs in our mechanized society.- Lithuanian-American environment artist Aleksandra Kasuba, 1970A corporation is to build and maintain a Retreat House to provide its people with relief from everyday demands and pressures of the office. The Retreat house is to be used by all corporation employees on a rotational basis, on the corporation’s time and at its expense.The visitor will spend most of his time in the Galleries, where the elemental displays take place. The Galleries are designed to feel enourmous, seemingly without walls, and to sound like echo chambers. Here the visitor will encounter the Elements: Earth, Air, Fire, Water.Given time unregimented, confronted with Elemental ocurances, and free from a constant rush of information which stifles natural reactions, the visitor would be able to experience the self in an environment not by the dictates of a particular society, but be forced to respond to himself alone. The experience could reveal one’s true self, and hopefully stir it enough to pursue its substance.Aleksandra Kasuba (1923 – 2019) - a Lithuanian-American environment artist. In 1970 she authored Utility for the Soul, a competition entry in a short book format for Projects Outside Art launched by Experiments in Art and Technology (E.A.T.), an organization developing collaborations between artists and engineers. Utility for the Soul would eventually become Kasuba’s manifesto, implementing the utopian goal at the core of her research, the search for a harmonious world and a peaceful dialogue between humankind, nature and technology.FEATURESOriginal utopian narrative - based upon a short story by artist Aleksandra KasubaPuzzle infused gameplay - 11 rooms to explore, each with a unique elemental puzzleAmbient soundscape - meditative, soothing atmosphereMinimalist graphics - hand animated black and white visualsMultiple languages - Pl...