'Víddaflakk' ('Interdimensional Hopscotch')

Just outside Snæfellsjökull National Park in western Iceland, a large plaque tells the story of a woman who allegedly existed in a universe just slightly different from our own.

The plaque is part of Kcymaerxthaere, an ongoing art project created by Eames Demetrios. A series of plaques and other markers around the world honor events that have taken place in a parallel universe that, according to Demetrios, “co-exists to some degree with ours.” Most of these installations are bronze or stone plaques inscribed with stories but some are larger, even entire buildings. As of 2021, there are more than 140 sites spread across six continents and 30 countries.

The Víddaflakk, or Interdimensional Hopscotch, a plaque tells the story of a woman named Eliala Mei-Ning, who saved a child known throughout the parallel world as the Boy from the Sea. Six pairs of stones tell you the story of Eliala, a singer whose voice was too beautiful to be concealed, and how she was the sole witness to a murder. The guilty parties chased her relentlessly, and she would try to hide, but eventually, she would need to sing. And since her voice was the most beautiful one in the world, people would instantly know it could only be her, and inevitably the bad guys would hear of her whereabouts. Knowing she had to sing, Eliala accepted her fate, traveling the world one step ahead of the Puhnee, the thugs that were chasing her.

The other plaques that tell pieces of Eliala’s story are installed in Armenia, Singapore, Japan, and Spain, as well as Lithuania and Wyoming.Update as of September 2021: The installation is somewhat derelict, making it tricky to find.