PORTFOLIO
Main Menu
Main Menu by Obvious Agency is a 30-minute-long live performance piece for one player at a time that takes place entirely over the telephone, mimicking a customer service call. Players meet "Annie" a new Interactive Voice Response system (IVR) designed by the enigmatic corporation Life Solutions to solve all of life's problems. Audience decisions guide the course of the piece, making every playthrough unique.
Team
Lead Artist: Joseph Ahmed
Direction: Daniel Park
Voice Acting, Software Development: Arianna Gass
Sound Design, Graphic Design: Navi Azeez
Creative Producing: Cat Ramirez
ABOUT THE SHOW
Main Menu was created and produced by Obvious Agency. There were forty-one half-hour long performances between October 24th and November 1st, 2020. The project featured three versions of the experience:
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Solo Player: Experience Main Menu by taking part in a one-on-one phone call with "Annie". This option is available for a majority of the performances.
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Quality Assurance Player: Experience Main Menu by taking part in a one-on-one phone call with "Annie" that is listened to by an audience. This option is only available for a selected number of performances.
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Quality Assurance Audience: Experience Main Menu by listening to a one-on-one phone call with "Annie" as a part of an audience. This option is only available for a selected number of performances.
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Depending on their choices, participants may find themselves drawn into everything from sensual guided meditations, to singing songs with the AI call agent, to pitches to begin performing call-center work from home via a surgically-inserted implant.
"Do yourself a favor and sign up to “see” Main Menu by Obvious Agency. It was a 45 minute call that made me feel simultaneously less alone, more okay with feeling alone, clear about the political/big picture source of my loneliness, and like I was on a really hot date. I’d do it every day if I could."
Main Menu: The First Five Minutes
Alternate Reality Crowdfunding
Leading up to the presentation of Main Menu in October of 2020, we worked to pair a crowdfunding campaign with the steady release of bonus content that expanded on the world of Main Menu. Donors received transmedia artifacts giving insight into the fictional megacorporation Life Solutions and their collaboration with Obvious Agency through Instagram stories, corporate email blasts, CEO magazine profiles, and more.
Humanity Test #1
The first "test" of the Life Solution's new Perfect Call technology, which yielded less-than-perfect results.
Life Solutions Instagram Takeover
A Life Solutions employee gives an inside look at their work-from-home employment with the company.
OTHER PROJECTS
