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A concept, script, design and soundtrack: these could be the building blocks used to compose numerous artistic productions like a film or an animation, maybe even a theatre production. Coincidentally, these aspects are also taken into consideration when creating a video game. Gradually, video game art has begun to pop up in galleries and to be discussed critically, take for example, this year’s “Breaking and Entering: Art and the Video Game” at Pace Wildenstein in New York. The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam recently focused on this “new” medium in their show, “Next Level: Art, Games and Reality.” |
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From Game World to the Real World – Janna Schoenberger
A concept, script, design and soundtrack: these could be the building blocks used to compose numerous artistic productions like a film or an animation, maybe even a theatre production. Coincidentally, these aspects are also taken into consideration when creating a video game. Gradually, video game art has begun to pop up in galleries and to be discussed critically, take for example, this year’s “Breaking and Entering: Art and the Video Game” at Pace Wildenstein in New York. The Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam recently focused on this “new” medium in their show, “Next Level: Art, Games and Reality.” Dutch as well as international artists and collaborative groups featured work that crossed the boundary of a pubescent boy’s living room to museum walls. “Next Level” can convert the skeptic who might have trouble believing in video game art. With few exceptions, the show was exciting and innovative.
The star of the show by far was Brody Condon. Condon participated in this year’s Whitney Biennial, “Breaking and Entering” at Pace Wildenstein, and has been discussed in Artforum magazine, among others. Condon is what video game art should be because his work retains its video-gameness but still presents its pieces in an aesthetic nature, sometimes with satire and often comments on the medium itself by taking elements from popular video games and assimilating them in another context.
The first room contains the two most exciting pieces of the exhibition, Condon’s KarmaPhysics<Ram Dass and KarmaPhysics< Elvis. Both pieces are modifications of a first-person shooter game, whereby Condon applies the programmed physical movements of a death sequence to his characters. Ram Dass, the character Condon draws upon in his game, is the former Richard Alpert, Ph.D. and Harvard professor turned LSD experimenter and spiritual leader. KarmaPhysics< Ram Dass demonstrates the more aggressive video game casualty. In this work, duplicate Ram Dass figures are piled together taking on an overall spherical shape complete with legs and arms jutting out from the mass. Consecutively and frequently, Ram Dass spews balls of fire and what appears to be bits and pieces of his silver robe. Drawing on the video game death sequence, Condon’s satirical piece is eye-catching and engaging.
In direct contrast to Ram Dass is Elvis on the adjacent wall. Again, using a dying sequence, this piece illustrates the more subtle movements like a twitching shoulder or gyrating hip which appropriately correspond to Condon’s sole use of the Elvis character. All the figures are identical except for the varying jumpsuit colors. The beading on all the outfits similarly remains the same, as well as the clever details like the belt buckle complete with a bald eagle and American flag. Projected in a pink square on the wall are the Elvises, which float slowly towards the viewer. Although the motions are derived from a real game’s actions during death, in this context, with the candy-colored background, any sense of violence is gone. Both Ram Dass and Elvis have enough pixels so they are recognizable, yet not overly realistic in the way it strives to emulate film. Thus, Condon’s images remain in the video-game realm. The resulting image is quiet, calm and hysterical.
One of the Dutch artists, Joes Koppers, exhibits his work Touch Me. The piece is a type of video game installation created especially for this show at the Stedelijk Museum. A floor-to-ceiling screen hangs in the center of the exhibition and projects a live feed taken from the same room. Touch Me is based on the fact that destruction is one of the most prevalent means to achieve goals in video games. When the viewer follows the directions plastered on the screen, “touch me,” a bubble forms at the point of contact and then explodes, leaving a blank white hole. If another person is walking by, an image of them can be burst without their knowing. Points accumulate for each target blasted; you can earn extra points for causing another viewer to wander headless on the screen.
Unmodified video games were also on view, some boring and conventional, like the “Hall of Fame” section, which had the so-called classic games, Super Mario Brothers and Street Fighter, available to play in the middle of the exhibition. The most appealing were games from Japan. Chosen by the Dutch collective, GameKings, three Japanese games were on view under the title “Big in Japan.” It was interesting to see how the games differ atmospherically and aesthetically to the “Best-Of” section earlier in the show. The disparity was most apparent in the lack of violence and in their quirkiness. Although they were just plain video games, they suited the exhibition well. The most appealing game was Katamari Damacy. The beginning sequence consists of dancing pink and white panda bears and an assortment of vibrant graphics such as tulips, dinosaurs, rainbows and fruit. From what I could gather, the game is centered around a robot that rolls around a giant ball of junk accumulating whatever loose objects stand in its path, much like a snowball growing in size as it is rolled around the park. Just about anything is up for grabs and the name of the object appears when it is incorporated into the pile. In the sample game on exhibition, some of the items collected were: a blue crab, a street sign, a AAA battery and a P.E. girl.
Responsible for the most disappointing work in “Next Level” was, again, GameKings. Their work, The Real World, is a split screen that alternately presents drastically different scenarios taken from the popular game Grand Theft Auto. In this game, the player must complete certain tasks that usually involve driving various cars through a city, sometimes acting as a cab driver and getting fares and, apparent from this work, flying a helicopter among other tasks. It is up to the player to decide if and how to follow the rules; the driver can ignore traffic lights, get into road rage fights, pick up hookers or play according to rules. Yes, it’s true it is slightly appealing that the fight scenes with Rage Against the Machine playing in the background can come from the same source that also shows a man walking on the beach with classical music. Otherwise, this work should more appropriately be displayed in a room with a coffee table and joysticks. The top works in the show took video games as the basis for their artwork and then went further with that idea. The Real World belongs back in game world.
As generations of gamers mature, chances are that the body of video game artwork will only grow and improve. “Next Level,” although containing a handful of pitfalls, is an overall successful show skillfully exhibiting one of the most current trends in art now and giving a hint at what’s coming next.
