KEMENETH – the Cornish word for community – is an artist’s project by Adam James in collaboration with St Ives communities and Tate. Developed through social practice, James presents an installation at Tate St Ives and an online larp (live action role play) workshop in a virtual reality environment, alongside ‘augmented reality’ (AR) sculptures that can be discovered in public spaces around St Ives.
These AR encounters are experienced by using the KEMENETH app at two sites in St Ives, where you’ll discover relics of KEMENETH’s fictional alternative communities and invitations to respond to the ‘sculptures’ through play.
At St Ives Community Orchard and Nature Reserve uncover the imagined site of The Fiery Foraging Warriors, a fire community modelled on equality, early foraging, and witches’ covens. Devised as a family, they stand against the unnecessary hoarding of wealth. They model the change they want to see through a simpler, more spiritually harmonious life, with a focus on learning together and sharing skills and resources.
On The Island, St Ives, find the home of The Inclusive Isolationists Society, a creative community who have inhabited a fictional ‘island of strange events’. Responding to the risk of pandemics and a weariness from using technology, they have sought refuge in a magical and secluded location. Making connections through an interest in creative practices, this community is event-focused, placing renewed significance on collective play, discussion, and new forms of creativity.
