DANIELLE BRATHWAITE-SHIRLEY: I DIDNT REALISE YOU THOUGHT LIKE THAT

Launches 21 May 2026

Play online at IDIDNTREALISEYOUTHOUGHTLIKETHAT.COM (web and mobile)

Further information: [email protected]

Serpentine is delighted to release I DIDNT REALISE YOU THOUGHT LIKE THAT an online game and shareable tool for critical thinking, developed by artist and game designer Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, in partnership with nonprofit organisation Beyond Code Collective (Beyond Code), and supported by Glass Castle Foundation.

I DIDNT REALISE YOU THOUGHT LIKE THAT will be available to play on web and mobile. It marks the next chapter of THE DELUSION, the multiplayer video game project addressing polarisation and societal rifts, which was presented at Serpentine North from September 2025 to January 2026. The project’s release on digital platforms signals Serpentine’s continued commitment to supporting art beyond gallery walls, fostering space for public discourse, while advancing Beyond Code’s mission to expand access to technological literacy and tools for future technologists and learners of all backgrounds.

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley (b.1995) is a London and Berlin-based Black Trans artist, community archivist and game designer whose practice prioritises active engagement. One of today’s most urgent voices, Brathwaite-Shirley embraces ‘the audience as medium’, creating bold, interactive digital projects that explore emergent identity politics by centring and archiving the marginalised voices and concerns of the public, especially those most at risk of erasure or persecution.

Their groundbreaking 2025 exhibition THE DELUSION at Serpentine North transformed the gallery space into a forum for difficult conversations about polarisation, censorship, and social connection.

I DIDNT REALISE YOU THOUGHT LIKE THAT was developed with Beyond Code, a nonprofit organisation that bridges the gap between inspiration, training, and employment in technology by connecting learners to educational content and opportunities to develop cutting-edge technologies.

I DIDNT REALISE YOU THOUGHT LIKE THAT immerses players in the post-apocalyptic world first seen in Brathwaite-Shirley’s graphic novel Below the Blue Line, where every negative comment ever written online comes to life, and factions cling rigidly to their own versions of truth and justice.