This seems to be an appropriate moment to 'admit' to being one of the artists subscribed and present in 'Game On'! Nina Pope and I's 'Homespun Heroes' is a collection of home-made game hero costumes by dressmakers from around the world, who were given a text description of the character (but no name) to work from. Is all very analogue and low-fi, deliberately.
I haven't seen the show in Edinburgh as I am in NYC (perhaps closer to the 'real' war?) but I saw it at the Barbican. It goes without saying that the show's timing vis a vis politics is totally coincidental - its planning goes back nearly 3 yrs.
I'm happy to discuss it if ambit folk have stuff to say - the artists commissions were a very small part of the project funding-wise and in relation to the show's concept, hence ( I assume) inclusion of some existing works like 'Trigger Happy'. E.g We initially wanted to work more closely with actual game companies but this was just not possible withing the project's scale. Yes, its a populist blockbuster (I was told unoffically that the Barbican curators are under constant pressure to repeat the popular success of the Star Wars show) but I for one haven't got a problem with that!
All the best,
Karen Guthrie
From: mark lawton <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 2002 11:05:13 +0100
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Re: <ambit> topic of the month - GAME ON - art and gaming
hi folks
>Fair enough, but is it a problem to have another discussion topic
>suggested for the list?
first of all sorry for misconceptions but i didn't mean to hog the
board, it just seemed a little weird that the topic of gaming came up as
being a distinct, new topic when it is patently obvious that there is
continuity
about the merchants of death
about the normalisation/glorification of war
about the use and abuse of public spaces
about the pressures of funding and the commercialisation of everything
>There are also works by new media artists in the show - some of them
>are subscribed to <ambit>. So in fact it's pretty relevant to the focus
>and the subscriber base of the list.
>
well that's all right then, the presence of 'art' once again legitimises
all things
can i ask who and what ?
>We could get into a discussion about flight/battle simulation games and
>their similarity to military training simulators... but I for one would
>be interested in hearing people's reactions to the Game On exhibition.
>
me too
can't wait to read som intelligent commentary and critique in fact
meanwhile here's another arm of the battle for young hearts and minds to
the cause of war that occurred a couple of weeks ago in Salisbury -
'Army 2002'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2096824.stm
peace
mark
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