[-empyre-] +trigger happy game art+

"Anita" <anita@banff.org> · Fri, 18 Jun 2004 16:30:37 -0700

Hello everyone,

Thanks Rebecca. I'm happy to hear that Selectparks.net will soon be more
functional than ever. Selectparks has played an essential role in
networking and exhibiting emerging game art and artists for the last few
years and it only deserves to become bigger and better

Firstly, I would like to briefly discuss game art and my own background
with the hope that I won't bore you all ...... I fell into games by
accident after playing wipeout 2097 for playstation (falling in love
with the designers republic design) and soon after I was invited to
create a virtual world project called LABRAT, for electrofringe back in
2000, to showcase it in a VR headset context.
I was especially interested in creating immersive, conceptually
challenging and surreal environments, which expand the parameters and
expectations of the video game as an artform, and where the ways one
encounters and interacts with the environments are as important as the
aesthetics. 
Creating game art for galleries or site specific installations was my
premier interest then and still is. 
But I was still enticed by the mega production of commercial videogames,
partially because I was bored with most of them. So I began working as
an artist at a commercial games company where I totally felt that I was
trying to hi-jack as many tools and as much confidential information
that I could about (commercial) games development. I had a secret life
and that was producing avante garde games. Apart from the skills and
knowledge that I gained I also discovered that the commercial games
industry could be a nasty and devoid environment. 
Only a handful of commercial games such as jetgrind radio, ICO, eye-toy,
viewtiful joe, shenmue, evil-twin, ALICE, were keeping the innovative
and malleable spirit of (commercial) games alive, and most of them
seemed to be Japanese. So began my obsession with the hyper-real
aesthetics of Japanese games + culture which led me to my current
production CUTEXDOOM 
http://mike.banff.org/cutexdoom/ 
which was recently shown at Gertrude spaces in Melbourne (curated by
Rebecca Cannon) and in a stereoscopic cave environment here @ the Banff
Centre, where I am currently based. However it seems that I must also
have a "real" job which is why I am here working for Sara Diamond on an
educational games projects to teach aboriginal high school students in
remote areas of Canada, physics, of all things. 
http://games.banff.org/ (it is still under development)
It is a really interesting project in terms of edu-tainment.

So I'm particulary facinated by projects such as Escape from Woomera,
the Zerogame interactive studio in Sweden and Endgames' Waco-
REsurection, where they have secured funding to complete the initial
phases of developing contemporary and relevant work. However I'm
concerned that these works will be difficult to complete independantly
and not have the distribution that they deserve. These documentary,
subjective reality or even pure fiction based games are an essential
part of the media world and society yet dedicated developing studios are
rare. I wish there was some way to create games for the Gamecube,
underground like there was for playstation 1 (with a bit of work.)
Presently there isn't so I'm still hopeful that commercial genres will
expand to include these more compelling themes. 
Otherwise game artists can still exhibit work online or in galleries,
can't they? After meeting with curator Steve Dietz recently I wondered
if the interest in game art may be a fashion that most curators and
galleries want to die. I don't believe it will, but I can see it
mutating and appealing to a growing and variable audience.
I have a lot more to say but forums kinda freak me out and make me write
eratically, for which I apologise.

On a final note I'd just like to post a link that shows screenshots of
one of the most interesting and gorgeous looking games I have seen in a
while, "Okamu", being developed by Capcom in Japan.
http://totalvideogames.com/pages/articles/index.php?screenshot=all&game_
id=3719

Have a fun weekend everyone,
_/|\_
anita <www.sikofshadows.com>

-----Original Message-----
From: empyre-bounces@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
[mailto:empyre-bounces@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au] On Behalf Of r cannon
Sent: Friday, June 18, 2004 5:21 AM
To: empyre email list
Subject: [-empyre-] SELECTPARKS

Hi everyone, 

Just to follow up on Helen's great introduction, I've been working on
selectparks for two years now. The archive, which has over 80 works in
it,
contains artwork made with computer games. A little bit more about what
qualifies an 'art mod' as opposed to any of your millions of fan mods in
a
bit. 

Firstly, I'd just like to apologise for the condition of the
http://www.selectparks.net webpage - in the past it has been frequently
offline, and is not in the best working condition at the moment.
Unfortunately this has largely been due to our popularity - we just
havent
been able to afford to pay for the bandwidth out of our own pockets...
And
being and international collection of work - have found it difficult to
find
funding for the site. Each country/region has only been interested in
contributing the percentage of work representing itself, which is fair
enough. (who has time to apply for 50+ arts grants a year?) But in an
increasingly globalised world - which I don¹t necessarily think is a bad
thing, it might be time for some globally-sourced arts funding body.
However, I dream/ this isnt going to happen for a while, since it would
require the USA to actually put up arts funding.

Having said that - the forward thinking people of Slovenia -
http://www.ljudmila.org/ specifically, have just taken over the job of
hosting selectparks. We are thrilled with this development, and thank
ACMI
and La Trobe Uni for also recently considering offering the same
service.
(Just as an aside on the electronic condition of east europe -
slovenians
have been buying their movie tickets on their wap enabled mobile phones
for
several years now : ).

So, any time now, maybe before the end of this forum, the site will be
more
functional than ever.

I started working on this after curating an exhibition that was held in
Melbourne in 2002 called Trigger: Game Art. Trigger exhibition surveyed
a
collection of work that was inspired by computer games. This in itself
was
an attempt at an anthropological survey of the aesthetic effect that
computer games had on us as a generation of people that grew up playing
them. [yes, kipper - big link between anthropology and art as you
observed
earlier). And, if not playing, at least being influenced by them at an
early
age. By the first form of immersive, digital interactive entertainment.

I included music videos, animations, interactive artworks,
narrative/games,
public-art installations, sound artworks, video artworks, etc. Most not
made
with computer games. I just wanted to show how pervasive a single medium
could be in the space of two decades. Of course, this phenomenon is
increasing exponentially with all media now... Particularly as the art
of
advertising reaches killer (as in suicide-inducing) proportions.

http://www.selectparks.net/exhibitions/trigger/

Selectparks itself is a little more (a-hem) selective...
We restrict the content of the archive to artworks that were actually
made
with computer games. Software mods/hardware hacks, machinima, musical
instruments, installations, video artworks, vj tools, etc. But as to
what
actually makes these art mods, when there is a huge quantity of game
mods
that are not represented in our archive::
Lets begin with - we havent ever rejected a submission to the archive
that
was actually made with a computer game. So, pretty much the main
defining
factor is whether or not the artist who made it thinks of it as an art
work.
Many people who make mods don¹t want anything to do with the art scene -
including the guys who made the 911 mod that helen described. However,
we've
included that work any way. Why? Well, because its brilliant. It shows
in
one simple gesture how potent computer games are as a medium.

http://www.selectparks.net

Games - as Play - Are thought of as cultural environments in which
'serious'
issues can not find deep and meaningful critique. Why? Because play is
whimsical. Play is for children. Although in play, as children, we
develop
many valuable life skills, social interaction, role playing,
collaboration,
compromise, competition, the ability to accept success, gracefully, the
ability to accept failure - these characteristics are not those that we
associate with play in the long term. At least in virtual environments.
We
associate time wastage, sedentariness, youth culture. Even though vast
percentages of people playing games are adults. Games carry cultural
baggage.

The other influencing factor in people's judgement of works made with
computer games - whether they are games themselves or artworks made with
games, or political statements made with games - is the association of
games
with commercial enterprise. Kipper might have something to add to this
with
the way that people responded - that is, the way that refugee advocates
responded, when they first heard about escape from woomera - and thought
it
was a commercial game. I've heard they were irate. The same thing
happened
with 911 - which, because of the school project that it was made for,
has a
website framing it as a commercial game. People thought they must be
exploiting the issue. Take away the single factor of whether or not the
game
is to be sold, and opinions soften. What - so games can deal with
political
content successfully if no one is profiting from them? Even though the
content is exactly the same? I mean I like to be suspicious of
commercial
motivations, but I think with the case of games, the scales are tipped a
little on the paranoic side.

For 911 in particular there was an amusingly ironic outcry. News
merchants
have made who knows how many billions of dollars exploiting the attack
on
the world trade centre. Replaying too many times the footage of
civilians
jumping from 160+ stories to their deaths. I recently included this
footage
in a collection of 'snuff' downloaded from gnutella. That footage
horrified
me. Last night I had nightmares that two planes had been dumped on
melbourne. I couldn¹t even look at the city - look to see if anyone I
loved
was alive. I didn¹t care. I just didn¹t want to see that horror again.

So when a group of four students feel motivated to express their own
experiences in the form of a game mod - as a hybrid art project and game
development exercise - are they really blaspheming the memory of those
(only) 2,792 people whose lives were taken for the sake of who knows
what
politically underhand propaganda? That project in particular was an
inspired
reaction to the desensitization which they experienced to 9/11 - keep in
mind these guys are from the west coast. Their distance (physical as
well as
emotional) - like ours in australia and  most parts of the world,
provided
them with sufficient platform to consider the event thematically
relevant
content for a game concept. Sure, it sounds harsh to people living in
new
york. To people with beloved that died in 9/11. But to most people in
the
world, the event was not more traumatic that a plethora of attacks that
the
USA has made on civilians in other nations. This event is so unreal, why
not
make it a game?

A conceptual gesture symbolising the unreality of their mediated
experience
of the event. 

The USA deserved it. Pain forces self-awakening. And if a few gamers
snickering over a the idea of a computer game simulation of the most
traumatic event in its history is offensive - good.

Everyone I've spoken to outside the us appreciates this perspective.
Most of
those inside it don¹t. Brody Condon and I both spoke about the piece at
Siggraph 2003. One report online quoted it as the most interesting idea
thing they heard all conference (not hard). Everyone else either -left
the
room in a huff, or - Sent death threats to the guys who made it, or -
posed
as me sending messages to email lists saying that I thought the project
was
bad ( oh alright. Only one person that I know of did this) (and, ok.
Some
people understood). The website for the project was taken offline 2 days
later because of a several-thousand-us-dollar hosting bill garnered by
the
additional publicity. We took up hosting the mod as an apology.
http://www.selectparks.net/archive/911survivor/index.html
& (the actual mod download - this one's secret :)
http://mildchoice.mine.nu/pub

I know many critics think the game/film analogy is as flogged as a dead
horse -  or however that decaying cliché puts it - but I think its a
very
very relevant analogy. We started with single media experiences. These
amalgamated into sagas, religion, and then into musical theatre  -
acting/images/costume/music/choreography
Enter Film: a non-instant, edited version with scenic flexibility
Enter Animation: effectively film without the constraints of reality
Enter Computer Games, the same thing - with immersive interactivity.

So, here's an excerpt from something I'm working on regarding the topic
of
this forum:
 Here an interesting comparison can be made between computer games and
film,
as film is similarly an entertainment media, but one which is accepted
as
suitable for conveying sensitive issues in a thoughtful and
thought-provoking manner. This paradoxical treatment stems from the
perceived contrasting passivity and activity of film and computer game
audiences, respectively. The combined lack of physical and cognitive
perception required to comprehend (most) films is seen to provide
intellectual space for attending to and recognising issues symbolised
within
the filmic narrative. The emphasis on participation in computer games is
considered too demanding of our 'lower' perceptual faculties, immersing
players in the pursuit of selfish, short term goals, that are dependent
on
trained hand-eye reflexes rather than philosophical or ethical enquiry.
Art
mods that employ characteristics of computer games, such as
interactivity,
team-based problem solving, hand-eye co-ordination, emergent authorship,
and
competition (as an ideology in itself)  to address political, social
and
philosophical issues, counter these common perceptions. These art mods
reveal that the activity involved in game play is capable of arousing
far
more intellectual engagement than do films, which, overall, are designed
to
appeal to an audience's desire for passivity. 

*** 

Gamers know how potent the medium of their lust is. A great multiplayer
session is as good as sex. And it lasts longer. You need to be able to
interact. To frag. To obliterate the other's (simulated) physical
experience. 

Virtual worlds provide environments for the representation of
potentially
more truthful indices of inner selves. Take Tobias Bernstrup - an artist
from europe. He started working with computer games by making mods that
included a virtual version of himself - as a girl - or as a
trans-gendered
performer, masturbating himself (as a girl), performing alone in a club,
or
as a (ho?) in a "penthouse idle".
I love tobias' work. And I love his history. I've got a chapter on both
his
and (melbourne's) linda erceg's work coming up in a MIT publication. He
started out by doing pseudo-parody/subliminally-realistic performances
on
cruise ships. A self-conscious 80's idol, stripped of its mediated
perfection. Then he took this performance character into game mods - but
only recorded the content as machinima (check machinima.org and
machinima.com) - and installed it in galleries. The work got
increasingly
distilled - increasingly conceptual. A brilliant work shows tobias as a
girl, with his own head, masturbating his female form. I mean, how many
guys
include that image in their sexual fantasies? I know my own are mixed of
gender. And why not - the genetic borders between genders are almost as
blurred as those between races.

Adrenaline - physicality - vibrancy.

Theres much more to be said on this topic, but its Friday night and I'm
getting a little too drunk to be writing this. So before I leave - one
last
thing. Heres the direct link to a work that I made that is represented
in
the 2004 exhibition currently on at acmi. In the networked section
specifically. Unfortunately, due to the lack of terminals and headphones
at
acmi you cant actually experience the work on location, but it being
networked, you can get it now and here:

http://mildchoice.mine.nu/pub/buff

A machinima soap-opera parody made in Quake 3 Arena. The native butch
characters become bickering, jealous gay lovers, and fragging becomes
synoymous with sex...

Enjoy

Rebecca Cannon
http://www.neopoetry.org/rebecca

Life is art. It just needs a lot of editing.

On 18/6/04 5:58 PM, "Melanie Swalwell" <Melanie.Swalwell@vuw.ac.nz>
wrote:

> Hi Kipper, 
> 
> - no, don't think so and I think that's a little harsh - the gamers
are
> neither naive nor lacking in agency here/needing our protection.
Quite the
> contrary.  And I don't think it will be like you say.  It could work
really
> well, as an encounter.  I mean, you could make the same virtual
tourism
> argument about other works too, and it could be on the money some of
the time,
> but it doesn't mean others don't go further than that.
> 
> Speaking of which, what about the EFW demo installed in the museum
space?  &
> the other game works in the show?  How is the response?  What are the
> difficulties?
> 
> Melanie
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From:    Kipper [mailto:kipper@escapefromwoomera.org]
> Sent:    Fri 6/18/2004 6:42 PM
> To:    soft_skinned_space
> Cc:    
> Subject:    RE: [-empyre-] games experimentation
> So essentially this is a museum exhibit that's an excercise in real-
> time anthropology? Like if you staged a rave in the museum space an
> invited people to come along to watch people from that subculture
dance
> to pop music?
> 
> I think it's very commendable and sporting for the museum to give
> gamers a venue, but what's the stated purpose in terms of museology?
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> empyre forum
> empyre@lists.cofa.unsw.edu.au
> http://www.subtle.net/empyre
> 

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