Gageure 1.0 is an existence simulator. It allows us to forget, for a few moments, the fear of emptiness that we all share. For a short time, we will be aware of our existence, accomplish something, and become somebody. The recipe is simple: all we have to do is believe in the work ethic.

This metaphor takes the form of a CD-ROM. Why? Dilbert* gives the answer in the form of a question: “But how did we make it look as though we were working before computers were invented?” Today, two employees in three work with a computer, which has become the ultimate working tool. While consulting Gageure 1.0, we will therefore look as though we are working. We will play with an employer who is anonymous, unpredictable and inflexible: the computer.

The cathodic face of our interlocutor is flawless. In basic video colours and with a few pixels serving as typography, we are interpellated by laconic statements set in the middle of uniform screens. The machine addresses us, promising us professional and personal fulfilment. This promise is a form of propaganda. It is that of managerial discourse, the voice of contemporary capitalism. This discourse, which safeguards the central position of work in life, lulls us with jargon, consisting of motivational euphemisms, and invites us to conform to its models for success. The success that it announces will never come. Initially confronted by a mock job interview, unaware of what the machine has in store for us, we gradually discover the labyrinthine character of Gageure 1.0. By turns, we become participants in a game that is just as alienating as work and consumerism, or the lackies of an inscrutable super-power, thus observing the vanity of our hopes for fulfilment.

This game exploits its own hypertext and consists of an association of ideas, offering a non-linear interpretational mode, stemming from the wanderings of the mind.

Translated by Anna Knight

[1] Scott Adams, The Dilbert Principle, Harper Business.