Serpentine is delighted to present THE DELUSION, the most ambitious project to date by London and Berlin-based British artist and game designer Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley
Serpentine North, from 30 September 2025 to 18 January 2026 , London
Ville & Casali celebrates its 400th issue by interpreting the concept of quality living, a theme that has long defined the identity of this historic italian magazine which, since 1990, has showcased the most beautiful homes in italy and around the world, uniting style, elegance, and the art of dwelling.
In collaboration with Prompt Magazine, this concept is explored through six digital artists who introduce a contemporary reflection on the idea of home, examining how digital media and artificial intelligence can expand our perception of space, emotion, and everyday living.
THE DELUSION combines satire and absurd humour with cooperative gaming and participatory theatre to explore the real-world impacts of societal division.
Artist and game designer Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley invites visitors into a post-apocalyptic world shaped by a single catastrophic event—the Day of Division.
In this imagined future, society has broken into closed, dogmatic factions, each clinging to its own version of truth, community, and survival. Conceived as a “live community play” and meeting space, the project aims to rehumanise debates and provide a space for players to pause, discuss and reconnect.
The project combines advanced technologies with older or ‘obsolete’ techniques, including 2D and 3D sprite animation and the open-source, community-built game engine UPBGE (Uchronia Project Blender Game Engine).
About Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley.
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley (b. 1995, London) lives and works between Berlin and London. Working predominantly in animation, sound, performance and video game development, and with a background in DIY print media and activism, the artist’s practice focuses on intertwining lived experience with fiction to imaginatively retell and archive the stories of Black Trans people.
Danielle utilizes interactive technologies to create participatory spaces that challenge traditional narratives and encourage active engagement. Their projects often take the form of immersive video games, where players navigate choices that confront their assumptions and biases, fostering deeper conversations about identity, privilege, and systemic oppression. Through their innovative use of digital media, Danielle not only preserves histories but also envisions inclusive futures where the voices of those that are ignored or erased are central. Their work is both ‘archive and insurgency’, a catalyst for dialogue, inviting audiences to reflect on their roles within broader societal structures.
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley - Courtesy Stefano Venturi
Commissioned and produced by Serpentine Arts Technologies, this is Brathwaite-Shirley’s most ambitious work to date — featuring a new series of video games and works developed collaboratively over the course of the past year with a team of artists, researchers, technologists and members of Danielle’s Black Trans and Queer community.
Visitors will be welcomed into an immersive installation designed in collaboration with Lydia Chan that blends the artists’ personal history, religious and spiritual symbols and elements of horror.
THE DELUSION builds on Brathwaite-Shirley’s urgent and ongoing work archiving Black Trans histories through game environments. Drawing on both advanced and ‘obsolete’ technologies—including the community-built open-source game engine UPGBE — the project furthers exploration into the creative and civic potential of video games
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“Let’s have the difficult conversations”.
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley
THE DELUSION . PH: Hugo Glendinning
Serpentine Arts Technologies programme explores the impact of technology through art, research and experimental projects. It supports artists to produce projects that use advanced technologies and convenes people working in art, technology, law, policy, and academia to share knowledge and develop new ideas about technology and society.
The foundation of Serpentine Arts Technologies’ programme is in an evolving R&D Platform that nurtures innovation for future art ecologies by securing a crucial institutional space for pragmatic interventions and necessary risk-taking at the intersection of art, science and technology. This is achieved through dedicated research projects, knowledge-sharing with the wider sector through Future Art Ecosystems, and co-facilitation of a national Creative R&D Working Group.
