In January of 2024, we began anonymously writing an online multimedia musical called En Abîme with our friends Lana Gaige and Katie Hameetman. The musical was an Alternate Reality Game (an ARG) — an immersive experience that never acknowledged that it was fiction. 100+ webpages, 100k+ words, five geocaches scattered across the East Coast, and one loyal player base later, En Abîme has come to an end — which means we can finally talk about it!
En Abîme’s story followed a group of data ghosts made up of their own archive, such as a vaudeville singer trapped in a wax cylinder or a ‘90s riot grrrl made from her zines. From following thousands of users on social media as a spooky 1930s trailhead to hiding puzzles in library books to writing encoded emails to stickering NYC punk bars from 5pm until 3am, this has been an singular creative and learning experience. We coded, we sang, we postered, we crafted, we ran games, and we built an incredible audience up from total anonymous scratch!
We’ve made the website more linear, so you can now read through it chronologically like a webcomic here! Credits and more information about En Abîme are available on our website. And for those looking for our next ARG — stay curious the next time you see a spooky sticker or run into a mysterious link. It could be just the tip of a two-year artistic project!
Thank you to Lana and Katie for creating this with us, and to Lara Priya Sachdeva and Andrew Matos for acting!
And last but not least, a HUGE thank you to everyone who played!
