The Devil's Chord

Chris Flanagan

The Devil's Chord, the supposedly ghastly sound of the “devil's chord”, a sequence of musical notes banned by the Vatican in the 12th Century due to its rumoured power to unleash demonic forces, is your “punishment” for making an unwise choice in Chris Flanagan's interactive installation project. Recalling the nerdy culture of 1980s computer adventure games, The Devil's Chord was a humorous and incisive investigation into the simplistic morality and one-dimensional narrative structures which fuelled the “action” in the games.

Flanagan remembers his childhood obsession with the games, “immersed in this escapist world for weeks or months at a time, winning, and the inevitable return to the 'real world', was always bitter sweet...[and] often came down to a simplistic morality choice between good and evil. Even the seemingly amoral ‘Leisure Suit Larry’ was rife with anti-Commie Cold War sentiment.” For The Devil’s Chord, Flanagan created an adventure mystery of his own, replete with strange clues, mysteries to unravel - and the inevitable black-and-white choice between good and evil which each exhibition viewer must make.

Chris Flanagan is an artist, curator and an occasional writer. He was the co-founder of Adelaide’s Downtown Art Space. Flanagan has exhibited in group and solo exhibitions across the Australia, and after completing a residency in Toronto, Canada in 2005, he now divides his time between Canada and Australia.