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Tuesday, January 31, 2006 |
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Linx3d |
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Margarete Jahrmann and Max Moswitzer's linX3D game consists of a modification of a 3D-shooter, which does two things at the same time: By shooting virtual enemies the user fires on targets in the game environment. At the same time the game also works as an email client. Whenever the user shoots an enemy, an email with a protest message is sent to the White House in Washington: Stop the War! Politically motivated mail functionality and shoot'em up fun is merged into one. The relationship between the two linked functions might seem arbitrary and unrelated, but for the artists these two functions belong to a wider network of social interaction and social activity related to each other. - artificial.dk
Perversity! Art that makes band aids out of paper cuts. The game is available as a download without any reference to the email function of the game, which makes it an actual, subversive political action instead of a simple art project "about" subverting the game/war connection.
One minor point about the project, though: Sending an email to the President? Really? I'm not sure I'm satisfied with that. Call me suspicious of the Government, but I sincerely doubt that the White House even bothers assigning a summer internship position to the president@whitehouse.gov address any more. Something that might have made this project more subversive is to attack the power centers that still bother bending to outside pressure, such as a media outlet. Or, for that matter, why not send an email to a video game company everytime someone in the game gets killed? Send it as a request for more information about an individual killed in the line of duty they were doing on behalf of their enterprise.
It might be a bit absurd, giving a random name, history, and a request to notify next of kin to the throngs of dead "enemies" we encounter in game play. I suggest simply using the ingenious literary talent of the UCE text generator that assumes names like "Aboralis P. Pencilsharpener" to its bastard salespitch driven existence. But does it create a deeper reflection on the war->game connections for the general public than a discarded email to the President would?
Posted by
Eryk @
3:32 PM
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