Ikari 'Ellis' Katsumi - The Invention of Crusoe

The Invention of Crusoe combines original text fragments of Daniel Defoe’s 1719 novel with screenshots of the 1995 anime series 新世紀エヴァンゲリオン (Neon Genesis Evangelion), personal photographs and found footage. As the island unfolds both text and image start to get a life of their own. The Invention of Crusoe offers a glimpse of how we can experience reality as just another fiction, another way to build identity; to live, to love, to survive.

Crusoe find himself shipwrecked on an uninhabited island and turns it into an otaku paradise. But he soon realises that his fantasyscape needs to be shared for otherwise he has no real proof he’s still alive. One day, a young man washes ashore on Crusoe’s island and they become lovers. Together alone, they come to the conclusion that their world needs the ability to procreate, to expand beyond their imagination, Animated Life. When Crusoe finds out there are others -cannibals- on the shore of their island, he decides to rescue one of their victims, a beautiful young girl.

The Invention of Crusoe is a ménage à trois, a shared voyeurisme between the characters, the reader and Ellis -the author-. A perpetual moment of play that turns a diary into a photo/picture novel that is as good as reality can be.