About the Work
Bipolar Journey is a game inspired by the artist’s personal experiences with Bipolar disorder. The audience operates the player character, represented by the artist’s disembodied head, and is tasked with the management of medication, undergoing psychiatric hospitalization, and the navigating of community reintegration. To win the game, you must successfully find your way through these tasks and buy yourself a hotdog. The hotdog is a personal symbol of freedom for the artist, and its collection references his experience of leaving inpatient care. Integrating a zine-inspired collage aesthetic with gameplay, Bipolar Journey seeks to explain the experience of madness.
How to Play
This game uses audio. Click with left mouse button or trackpad to select menu options. The WASD keys on your keyboard allow you to move in the 2D space: A and D moves left and right, and W and S moves up and down. Players must successfully collect pills in the first level before they can easily move up and down.
About the Artist
TJ Cuthand was born in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada in 1978, and grew up in Saskatoon. Since 1995 he has been making short experimental narrative videos and films about sexuality, madness, Queer identity and love, and Indigeneity. His work has been screened internationally at festivals, including the Tribeca Film Festival in New York City, Mix Brasil Festival of Sexual Diversity in Sao Paolo, ImagineNATIVE in Toronto, Frameline in San Francisco, Outfest in Los Angeles, and Oberhausen International Short Film Festival. His work has been exhibited at the Whitney Biennial, the Mendel in Saskatoon, The National Gallery in Ottawa, and The Walker Art Center in Minneapolis. He is of Plains Cree and Scots descent, a member of Little Pine First Nation, and currently resides in Toronto, Canada.