A film that speculatively explores open-source tools, virtual simulations, and digital literacy
In collaboration with Sky Kawano

As children, when we tried to work out how these virtual experiences came to be, and we were not knowledgeable enough to understand how that process worked. In our investigation of Nintendogs (2005), we began to ask ourselves how we got so absorbed into a world that wasn't real. This project revisit simulations that had been integral to our upbringing and interrogating them with adult eyes.

Nintendogs was a pet simulation game released in 2005 to promote the Nintendo DS Console. When reflecting on our childhood experience with the game, we remembered how emotionally attached we were to these virtual "pets". Even though we were aware that these dogs were digital, our engagement with this simulation repeatedly blurred the line between what was real and what was artificial. Daisy’s Anatomy is a response to Ken Sane’s Transparency blog and his discourse around Baudrillard’s The Simulacra.

Blender is an open-source 3D modelling tool allowed us to change our relationship with these dogs and the game as a whole autonomosly. Using 3D models that were extracted from Nintendogs, we were able to warp, destroy and customise them to our heart’s content. By taking control of the original game assets, we broke through the illusion that we had been under as kids. 




We dissected our original gaming experience and used it to create new work that helps bridge the gap between consumer and producer. Empowering an audience isn’t just about giving them tools, it’s also about developing their awareness of how what they consume leads and misleads them. We are posing a question to the audience about their passive content consumption through the use of uncanniness (a strange and anxious feeling created by familiar objects in unfamiliar contexts). The aim of our work is to facilitate the emergence of an informed, active and involved consumer that can build upon the existing culture.

We are proposing a modding workshop at the end of our video experience. The video follows our personal journey from passive consumers to actively engaged creators who have control over the models from the game. Our audience follows a similar journey and completes the experience by customising a Nintendog skin and uploading their version of the reconstructed Daisy, signaling the idea of ownership and potential to re-create new narratives.