Arcadia

It was Tuesday, after school, and I had just started ninth grade. I met my mom at the store to help carry the groceries. As we were packing the bags, we noticed the TV in the lottery corner. A passenger plane had flown straight into one of the towers of the World Trade Center in New York.

That evening, my friends and I went to the movies. Squaresoft had gone all in on a digitally animated feature film loosely based on their biggest video game franchise, *Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within*. The short before the film was a teaser for next year’s blockbuster. Someone robs a bank and escapes in a helicopter. Suddenly, the aircraft stops—caught in a spiderweb stretched between the Twin Towers. *Spiderman*.

The next day, our gym teacher told us the world would never be the same.

On Thursday, I got on a bus and rode three hours out of town. Until Sunday, I was going to be someone else. I was heading to my first ever live-action roleplaying game. Along with around 90 others, ages 15 to 50, I traveled to Clarion, in the fantasy world of Elarin, to attend a wedding of the orthodox-elementalist kind, to quote the original invitation to the event.

In one of my recurring dreams, I’m on my way to a live-action roleplaying event, but I can never find my costume. The backpack is gone, the duffel bag nowhere to be found, the chainmail misplaced.

I took part in four LARP events organized by the group Arcadia.

Runddans, Forvarsel, Blodrand, Blodspor.

– Erlend Grytbakk Wold

In the exhibition

, Grytbakk Wold presents watercolors on canvas with embroidery, alongside sculptures in aluminum and steel.

is a term often used to describe a lost idyll, and here it refers to live-action role-playing and fictional universes as temporary realities. The roles one steps into, the rituals one takes part in, and the sense of community that emerges in such forums often stand in stark contrast to an external reality marked by upheaval and uncertainty.

The exhibition is kindly supported by Arts and Culture Norway.