Project Description
Art Games is an exhibition featuring six tripartite artworks which each consist of a monochromatic canvas, a minimal arcade console, and a collection of art historical texts. These objects interface, framing six custom video games which explore concepts of mark-making, viewer agency, subjectivity, and play as critical entryways into the history, production, and interpretation of art. Each video game locates the figure of a seminal artist within the landscape of their own artwork. Modeled after the juxtaposition of Ad Reinhardt's stark, black monochromes and wry, pedagogical comics, the video games stage imaginary confrontations between the artists and their monochromatic work in which the player finds herself in the conflated position of author, audience, and subject simultaneously.
By limiting or removing critical elements of classic gameplay (e.g. top-down mazes that repeat endlessly, side-scrolling shooters without enemies) and by adding the avatars and actions of post-expressionist artists (e.g. Stella, Warhol, Reinhardt, Rauschenberg, Klein) the severely repressive aspects of both gaming and artmaking emerge as infinite loops. Along with the games, an open source library of critical writing allows viewers to browse, pirate, remix, and input texts in the gallery. The main focus of this work is to address the act of interpretation within gaming, modernist painting, minimalist sculpture, and art criticism.
Project Pages
Exhibition Schedule
- Fresh Blood, Mason Murer Fine Arts, Atlanta GA (August 14 - September 11, 2009)
- FloCAS '09, Juror: Libby Lumpkin, Museum of Fine Arts, Tallahassee FL (July 6 - September 20, 2009)
- Art Games (solo), The Gallery at the Reitz Union, Gainesville FL (February 16 - March 7, 2009)
Technical Description
Each game consists of three parts: a monochromatic screen, a minimal arcade console, and an open source library. All equipment is provided by the artist with simple, remote-controlled operating procedures. The thin, white pedestal (approximately 1.5' x 1.5' footprint) is installed between 10 and 15 feet away from the hanging monochrome (treated with reflective glass beads) and works best when not lit directly by gallery lighting. All components are stored within the pedestal from which the joystick extends in the fashion of a classic arcade machine. Controlled via joystick, a small computer running the program outputs fullscreen imagery to a digital projector. The computer and projector require only an AC power source to run the artwork autonomously.
At Mason Murer
in Atlanta, GA on August 14 to September 11, 2009
At the J. Wayne Reitz Union
in Gainesville, FL on February 16 to March 7, 2009
Screenshots
