2.3
(t)Error criticizes the media society
Our contemporary life and society consist of brainwashing media
flashes, consumption and pseudo-happiness paired with a upcoming
depression. My work uses the same media and the same mechanisms
however the goal is the deconstruction of this failed system and
a reflection of this media junked fake.
Just the unbroken popularity and fascination of computer games
speaks for an artistic analysis. There is a whole “culture of
external activities that has developed around these games – from
trading of customized game patches to demands that the manufacturer
provide more levels, to whole web sites devoted to one’s avatars
[3]. In consequence of her examination, Antoinette La Farge stresses
that in the near future, computer games will be as important in
the modern cultural landscape as art, music or film.
2.4 (t)Error criticizes the abuse of computer games through
military and economy
Another important point of criticism shown in (t)Error lies in
the close connection of computer games with military and economy.
„It’s now fairly common knowledge that Operation Desert Storm
was prepped for by doing simulation strategy exercises down in
Florida, and that the US military is currently pumping large amounts
of capital into figuring out how to appropriate gaming principles
for battle training in massively mulituser SimNet environments.”
[4]
This list of strange simultaneities and surprising cooperations
could go on and on and on.
“According to the Interactive Digital Software Association’s 1999
sales information, over 6.1 billion dollars in U.S. entertainment
software sales in 1999 went to games.” [4]
In a time where professional computer games have more production
budgets as Hollywood films, you must question this media, analyze
it artistically and bring it up in a topic. A whole generation
grows up with games, mostly just having one goal: “You achieve
your aims with violence.”
Artists and creative must click in at this point, dismantle these
games, rearrange them with new ideas and reflect the media itself.
The transformation and modification of games are also interesting
in the historical context, if you consider that military institutions
have taken a great part in the development of this gaming technology.
With the second version of a modified 3D Shooter the American
Army is at the present time hunting for new recruits; let’s hope
that this shot was off target.
3. ORGASMATRON
Orgasmatron is an interactive sound installation. It is designed
as a glass piano (see Figure 5) [8]. When you move your hand over
a glass the vibrator next to a glass starts and generates a certain
sound. All the glasses are filled with a certain amount of liquid
which so build up a scale. A camera from above detects which glasses
are triggered. This installation has been exhibited at the Ars
Electronica Pixelspaces Exhibition 2003.
 |
Figure
5. Orgasmatron
I used real sex vibrators and put them in another context. It
is my reaction about the floods of spam mail about sex, porn,
etc. Towards a sex thrilled society, viagra, penis enlargement,
porn. Sex sells it’s a simple equation. Orgasmatron is my persiflage
of a culture which certainly thinks more about sex then about
Mozart. I tried to promote the installation with fancy flyers
and in a pop cultural way, to make it look like a clubbing, which
worked very well (see Figure 7).
Figure 6. Orgasmatron Flyer
Figure
7. Anonymous with Flyer in his pocket
I printed 700 flyers and they were all gone in 4 days. I don’t
think this is because people in Austria are so much into media
art, it’s more about using the references and the same language
as youth culture. |
