Alix Desaubliaux is interested in building narratives inside the virtual environments of Massive Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games (MMORPGs), and in exploring the concept of the “Magic Circle” and its connection with both ancestral rituals, and the interaction between humans and their physical surroundings. Popularized by Johan Huizinga in his book “Homo Ludens" (1938), the magic circle is a physical (or currently, virtual) space in which actions have a specific meaning because they are part of a game. Taken further, this idea leads to considering how every space in our society is subject to a set of explicit or implicit rules and codes, so that we are all, in a certain way, players behaving in accordance with the rules of a game.
In “Sigils,” the artist weaves the magic circle concept with the sigil, a symbol used in magic to summon a deity or spirit, and the physical space of an abandoned foundry of metallurgical alloys. The architectural plans of the factory inspire the artist to search for sigils that invoke an “industrial genie,” and she carries out a fictional ritual by burning the plans and creating rings of fire as a way to activate the sigil. The sound in the piece also creates an otherworldly effect that feels similar to the sounds generated by ghost hunters who use the feedback from electronic devices to search for the voices of spirits. In this way, the artwork suggests a paranormal experience through the lens of digital media by connecting the different types of code that have shaped human societies—from incantations, to laws, to programming scripts.