Speed (Denial of Death)

Sonic the Hedgehog (1991) is built on the fantasy that speed can outrun consequence. That death can be defeated if we move forward fast enough, and that stillness is a form of failure. The game equates survival with momentum: as long as Sonic is in motion, he survives. Yet this logic ultimately collapses. No amount of speed prevents the countdown from reaching zero. No momentum escapes the timer. Sonic reveals a deeper truth: acceleration does not abolish death, it only delays the moment we must confront it. In this way, speed becomes a form of denial — a refusal to pause long enough to acknowledge finitude. Stillness (framed as danger in the game) emerges as a quiet counterforce of acceptance. To stop is to resist the compulsion to outrun what cannot be escaped.
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14" x 20" x 5"
Laser cut acrylic, 7” IPS screen, Raspberry Pi, Sonic the Hedgehog ROM, wireless Genesis controller, 3D printed controller wall mount
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