The Drums is an interactive narrative by artist Mark Tholander. By navigating with the scroll bar, the visitor moves through a story of a race track where a catastrophic event took place or takes place. Along the way, one will encounter three songs that mark the dividing lines between the three phases of the narrative. Both in the songs, and in the soundscape of the scenes, drums become an integral aspect of the proceeding, although the drummers themselves are never seen or hinted at. In parallel, an announcer is commenting on the race as it progresses.

As part of the work, there is a map of the narrative's path systems, which visualise the underlying algorithm that binds the work's many scenes together.

← Click to download map (~1 mb pdf, 400dpi CMYK)

The story takes form by means of the two directions that the scroll bar indicates — up or down — a constant two-way street. If the visitor scrolls up, a new scene loads, and if the visitor scrolls down, another scene loads. These paths, however, lead towards branches. By looking at the map, it becomes apparent that as the narrative progresses, the parts materialise more and more linearly, like a mass being pulled towards its own gravity. The work thus operates as a vertical line, which is constantly broken in labyrinthine detours, but in the end always returns to the descending verticality towards the end point of the narrative: a finishing line or a cul-de-sac.

Credits:
Concept, story & composition: Mark Tholander // Coding: Anders Visti // Drums, scenes: Mark Tholander // Song 1: Voice: John C. Bates. Drums: Joshua Samuel Bacon, Emiliano Di Fiori & Mark Tholander. Mixing & Mastering: Paulo Germano. // Song 2: Voice: Janlyn Williams. Drums: Joshua Samuel Bacon. Guitar: Arvid Vigren. Piano: Michael Doan. Mixing & Mastering: Paulo Germano // Song 3: Voice: Adam Weaver. Drums: Bernardo Yacono. Bass: Mitch Cockman. Guitar: Zek Starosky. Mixing & Mastering: Paulo Germano.

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Mark Tholander (born 1988) is a contemporary artist who lives and works in Copenhagen, DK. He graduated from The Jutland Art Academy in 2019. His practice can be described as an interdisciplinary approach in a mixed media field. Mark Tholander has previously shown his work at Rencontres Internationales, Paris, FR; Seattle Transmedia & Independent Film Festival, Seattle, US; Korea Foundation Gallery, Seoul, KR; Kunsthal Aarhus, Aarhus, DK; Ung Dansk Fotografi 17, Cph, DK; FILE — Electronic Language International Festival, Sao Paulo, BR; Bideodromo, Bilbao, ES; Beijing International Short Film Festival, Beijing, CN, and INCA Institute, Portland, US.
Website: https://marktholander.dk/