Overview

Refuse.exe is a two-screen software work by Ed Atkins, with the lower screen displayed in one room and the upper in another. A stream of junk and weather falls onto a digital stage, forming a growing pile. Generated in real time using a modified Unreal Engine, the piece is a live physics simulation—scripted but different with each run. It’s not a recording, but a rudimentary game that plays itself. Atkins conceived it as a kind of stripped-back theatre, aiming to distill drama to its bleakest form: a sequence of falling objects creating an accumulating spectacle. Initially imagined as a live stage production, the concept proved too costly and impractical. The digital simulation became a fantastical and fitting substitute.