Pyromaniac's Manual

People have different needs. Mine is starting a fire.

Pyromaniacs Manual tells a story about my drive to destruction. Tough set in a digital realityshowcases dangerous situations as a satisfying entertainment. I play with the voyeuristic nature of a digital viewer, who wants to be inside of the situation, sit in a front row, as long as the virtual

presence is still comforting.

Pyromania is an impulsive behavior disorder, in which the individual struggles from an uncontrolled need to start a fire. Although pyromania is a real disorder, captured in a photograph deprives it of what is frightening - lack of control. Observation of destruction becomes therapeutic, although it is different for the one who creates and different for the one who watches.

In this case, it is not only pyromania that is entertaining. It is the possibility of communing with dangerous phenomena. Pyromaniac wants to be watched, and pyromania, as every mania, is attractive to watch, when explained in a safe surrounding.

The clash of these two tendencies — pyromancy on the one hand, and voyeurism on the other, helped me create a specific relation with the viewer, in which I am the safe guidance through arson techniques. The Pyromaniacs Manual thus becomes a record of my dark tendencies, which, treated by the social media filter, are entertainment for the viewers, and relief for me.