WILD TORUS (WT) enacts ceremonies centered around intense digital simulation and participatory action under the auspice of the “digital spirit cycle” (DSC). The DSC unifies the media and individuals of sub-cultural periphery to commemorate unseen cataclysms in time between ancient, predetermined spiritual indicators and current natural and societal disasters. Essentially, it is a surreal, self-aware hybrid of a psychotherapy seminar, a tribal ritual and virtual reality simulation. It takes place in sensory-saturated, digitally-constructed environments that beckon toward the open-minded viewer. DSC rituals operate on egalitarian principles and rely on a gender, geographic, generational and class neutral approach; the more variety of people that are brought together, the stronger the resulting exercise in sublimity.

This was a performance within a greater DSC that began with a sculpture of Metatron’s Cube positioned in the center of the performance venue, the Silent Barn. This specific shape, a variation of the Silent Barn’s heptagon symbol, is believed to encode the basic structure of life. Here, the Cube functioned as a condenser, harnessing the energy of the space and the vessel for that energy to imbue. The WT male, Vlady Voz Tokk, sat inside, covered head to foot in white paint. The WT female, Mág Ne Tá, dressed as a Cyber Warrior, slashed open the Cube, exposing Vlady inside its skeleton. Mág then assembled various pieces of furniture into the center of the space. She put a tall ladder next to the fallen Cube and Vlady. Then, with her flashing staff, she prodded all the performers and audience members to stand on the surrounding furniture, creating a multi-level congregation. Two additional WT performers, Josh Kil and Kim Wirt, unraveled four long, elastic bands attached to the Cube and wrapped them around the waists of the gathered disciples. The bands formed a human body Inter-net that started to expand and contract, becoming increasingly intimate within the whirling environment of cosmic sounds and digital projections.

After some time, the network organically disassembled. The performers began to slop syrup onto Vlady and cover him in fluff, while the Mág Warrior passed out cups of sugar to audience members. The audience then formed a line and, one by one, poured their sugar cups over Vlady as a way to transform the man into a demi-God.