“hiii it’s your fav trash artist caling from 2086 they finally killed shell the big plastics are no more in fact they’re not even producing trash anymore everything is in a tube now which means we’ve lost all the space to live so haha yeah pretty bad but anyways we’re desperately trying to find the next trash star and maybe it could be you the one who can SAVE THE RACCOON!!!”
An immersive game show to find the best “trash artist” to save all the raccoons. Compete to win a small prize, and the ultimate accolade under a system not designed for you.
↑ Save The Raccoon Promo, Exeter Phoenix ver. ↑
↓ Save The Raccoon @ Theatre Deli, Voidspace Live 2025 ↓
Spoiler & the story behind this show...
[Highlight text to reveal] “Save the Raccon” is a live game show setting to find the best “trash artist” to save all the raccoons, as the species becomes homeless and endangered in a zero-waste future with no bins. To survive and be recognised as the best “trash artist” in the competition, the “raccons” (audiences/participants/competitors) will have to go undercover and win a system not designed for them, but rather for other animals that are native to, or considered as pets in the UK. The game show features a small story, performed solo by me: They will be welcomed with a slow start, featuring relaxing music, tea & biscuits, and an invitation to “be creative <3” by making something with air-dry clay. The peace was then disturbed by a “loser” raccoon chasing some plastic bags, eventually pleading “let raccoons be raccoons” before it was shot & killed by an “elite” raccoon. The elite raccoon will guide the participants through the gameshow, where the “raccoon score” is calculated and the participant with the highest raccoon score is announced after each round. In the end, the elite raccoon announces the participant with the lowest raccoon score as the best “trash artist”, as they’d be the one who’s least like a raccoon and therefore most likely to win the system. The winner is then invited/demanded to destroy the clay pieces made by other participants with a stick, and awarded with a (3D printed) raccoon head skull.
This game show is inspired by my experiences navigating through the UK funding & awarding system as a rural-based first-gen immigrant artist, where I’m constantly confused by all the written/unwritten rules, disheartened by the need to “fit in” so that I can prove the value of my practice, and trapped by the glass ceiling. Specifically, the game design was adapted from the application process and requirements for the Global Talent Visa, which I struggled with for the entirety of last year. In my fight to stay in the UK and continue my practice, I was frustrated by having to prove myself to be a “legitimate” enough artist in a set of outdated standards - also exhausted by having to deal with all the misleading information and negativity online spread by “my own people” - to be exact, those who paid their way into a visa, or those who tried to make money off anxious applicants. Reflecting on my journey, the show not only presents the ridiculousness of navigating a system that is unfair for the “raccoons”, but also the privilege that “elite raccoons” have over the others under this system, along with their thinly veiled exploitation towards the “loser raccoons”.
I created this piece last summer, as I was fighting for my visa to stay in the UK. I fought for that visa like fighting for my life - my practice is my life, one that I wouldn't be able to maintain in my home country due to the socio-political & community-based themes in my work, also due to my relative socio-economic background. Thankfully, I received my Global Talent Visa earlier this year in April, which allowed me to stay and continue my practice. While I'm truly proud of myself, I also wonder how much of it is just luck. I saw some truly excellent artists fail to obtain this visa, and with the recent announcement in immigration policy, I witnessed some of my friends having their lives and dreams entirely crushed. Six years ago, I moved here to escape all the political issues, bigotry and queerphobia from my home country - but now that I've got the visa that could lead to permanent residence in this country, I've started to wonder if I've truly escaped after all. [End]
