Friday, October 24, 2014

Video games as contemporary art?

     I know this isn't a popular discussion with many as some really resist the notion of a video game being associated with traditional art yet I think it is a good discussion.  There are a few obstacles which games face if they will eventually be embraced as "art".  Well first, being termed a "game" has to change, as some are more experiences now, the age old moniker of "video game" which conjures up images of Pac Man, SuperMario, Minecraft, candy crush, angry birds etc all still linger over them thus hampering a new perspective from emerging.  Another problem might be that with hundreds working on a game and no clear defining artist, but rather a company as the face, then I think people may see them as too corporate and profit driven to achieve the individual expression which art often is romantically associated with.  It should be remembered though that many artists such as Leonardo DaVinci used pupils and it was perceived that using highly skilled assistants meant that you, as a teacher of those assistants, were exceptional.  For example, the teacher of Leonardo was named Andrea di Cione who also trained Sandro Botticelli and others.  Sometimes there is great prestige to be had in ones students but it is a very touchy subject.  David Hockney, for example, put up a sign at a large show of his in 2012 saying "All the works here were made by the artist himself, personally" it was considered a jab towards Damien Hirst who uses assistants to create some of his work yet allegedly keeps it secret, almost as though they are employees or, perhaps, the notion that an artist must create all their work themselves exists within the artist himself, thus the
A game called Crysis 3
desire to hide the participation of assistants.  That is the interpretation anyway.  I try to do everything myself personally, but then I am a control freak.  I would be much more productive if I used assistants who could create objects almost identical to what I might create, yet not essential that I actually spend the time to make them.. like say a fork on a table top.  Some artists think of it as collage or perhaps as composing an artwork using available talent.. others don't and in the end it really depends on how invested the original or main artist is during the whole process of creation. 
Grand Theft Auto IV-Duncan Harris
      In regards to video games though, I don't think people see them as a singular identity yet, and some companies may have even tried to bypass this perspective by putting a human face on projects such as for game designer American McGee.  For example though, in the image above for Crysis 3, there are a great many artists involved in that single screen shot, because remember that is a 3D virtual space which you can explore similar to SL, maybe climb up the vines and enter a window, I don't know I haven't played it.  But there are people who just do lighting, some do the foliage, textures, structures, characters etc then there is the overall artistic director.  They are more like movies now in scope and we have long accepted movies as art.
The Walking Dead - Leo and Clementine
A timer counts down as you choose
kenny remembers
     Anyway, back when I began creating art in Second Life and started to think of it as creating paintings you could enter and explore, incorporating duration and interaction with open ended choice, when I began to see it that way I decided that I must also play games then, because I wanted to be aware of what was going on elsewhere even if it was not the same as what I wanted to do but somewhat parallel.  Before that I did occasionally play video games with friends, and I sucked badly at them, but at that time I decided that I would play any game that had a rating of 90% or higher that was story driven, and hopefully I could find parallels that related to creating virtual art in a open ended 3D environment.  The image way up at the top is from one of the early ones I played called Limbo.  A small group of people made it and it really is a beautiful game.  Strangely violent, but beautiful.  Well they are all violent usually, which I expect might be an obstacle to being considered art, but looking past this you can really see why they work in some cases.  Limbo was not only beautiful, but contained a wide range of engaging puzzles.  It was really rewarding to figure them out.  The aesthetics were unquestionably artistic, but then the question almost is whether adding puzzles and gamifying art then disqualifies it from the art category. So every little while I am going to talk about a game I have tried if I have something, hopefully insightful, to say about it.  Not as a game review, but rather as a way to look at how fully immersive artworks could potentially benefit from various successful tools that seem to work in "games".  Knowing why something works is important I think, regardless of whether it could be used in ones artwork or not.  Just recognizing it, for me, kind of helps to imagine other possibilities.  Today I want to talk about one I have played recently called The Walking Dead.  It is based on a comic book which is also a TV show with the same name, which many of you have likely watched.  I was a bit apprehensive about playing this game as it is about zombies, and if it was like the TV show then there would be copious amounts of exploding heads and gore.  There is some of that, well lots of that to be honest, but there are some really impressive dynamics in the game itself that captivated and intrigued me.  The Walking Dead is not a huge game, not like Grand Theft Auto 5 from last year which collected 1 billion in sales... in just three days.  I have not played that game either but I guess I should at some point.     Anyway, so the walking dead is a unique experience and somewhat of a throwback to point and click adventures.  Much of it is cut scenes and dialogue with some minor puzzle elements but its blend is more successful to me than many other games I have tried.  It is almost like an interactive comic book and the aesthetics reflect that too in the artwork.  What it has, that really absorbed me, is a high degree of interaction and investment in characters.  In the first season you play as Lee, the man in the blue shirt, and you look after a little girl named Clementine who he discovers in a tree house, alone, after the zombie apocalypse.    Clementine is adorable and it didn't take long for me to feel genuinely protective of her, which is an impressive feat for a game.   Most games I have played don't really invest me in the characters so much, but this one really did.  What is interesting about the game though is that it is fairly open ended in where you can lead the story.  So essentially you meet up with other survivors and over the course of chapters you interact with them in various different ways which change the direction of the story depending on your choices.  So for example at one point in the game two people I met were being attacked by zombies and I had to choose which to help.  One a computer
you learn were your choices fit with others who played
nerd type and the other was a journalist with a gun.  I kind of liked the computer guy and he seemed helpless so I saved him not realizing that I was making the choice between who lived and who died.  So I chose to help the computer guy in a world with no more electricity and let the person who was good with a gun die. Probably not the right decision I guess.  There is an alternate story though if you make the decision to help the journalist, and it really plays on your mind whether you made the right decisions all along the way. You feel the moral implications of your choices too.  You have to make hard decisions and once made there is no turning back.. whats worse (or better) is that you have a limited time to pick these reactions or responses, similar to how it would be in a real situation.  So when someone asks you something you can't just sit there for a half hour thinking... as with a real conversation you have a short time to decide and this can result in a "fuck I shouldn't have said that" moment or two.  And as you can see with the image above, the characters remember what you tell them or how you act, so if you lie or play favorites etc then you have to realize that people can catch you.  For example you may have a limited amount of food to give out, not enough for everyone, and who you give it to changes the dynamic as well.  Do you give it to people who don't seem to like you so that perhaps they will in the future, or strengthen relationships that are already strong... or do you give the food to the kids or to the adults who have to protect you?  The game is interesting also in that you have to decide how you will be, morally, in this new world.  So for example there was a character who was fairly useless and unable to adapt to the new reality of .. well zombies, yet I protected them, sided with them and burnt bridges all because it felt wrong to turn on this helpless person.  Also in the back of my mind I think I felt that the game would reward me for helping this person, but not in this new world, you have to make hard decisions.  But is all this a form of interactive art?  It's really not important if it is, but to me I imagine how I feel after looking at something considered art by society, at that moment and then how it lingers with me.  If I think of this game in a similar manner, then the way it made me think of characters and decisions long after I had finished playing, then yes it did get inside of me somehow, the reasons being that they created an immersive story which made me care about what happened to the characters, made me feel like I was influencing the outcome in a changing environment.   It makes me dream of an artwork which you don't simply look at aesthetically but rather become invested in.  Imagine if you could speak to the Mona Lisa and discover her personality.  If you could be emotionally connected to her somehow that lingers past the moment you turn away from the painting.  Can we enter an artwork and love it almost as an entity?  That is what I am wondering.  If anyone is interested in trying the walking dead game on a computer to see what I am talking about,  then try Steam which offers game downloads.  They forever are putting things on sale and I got the first and second season of the walking dead at a time when they were 75% off (which is a fairly regular occurrence) so like $6 and you can't go wrong at that price.

Duncan Harris is a video game photographer and has a site with some impressive unaltered images of the games he plays

Monday, October 13, 2014

Drik Magazine interview

     I had done an interview for Drik Magazine a while ago and forgot to mention it.  They are a Spanish publication and so, if you are fortunate enough to speak Spanish, which sadly I am not, then here is the translation.  There is also the English original here.  Some parts of the interview may seem familiar because I have used them in other interviews.  One thing that is a bit tiring with interviews is that often you come across the same questions over and over again.  It is not the fault of the interviewer as they are completely rational questions to ask, however, I often would spend a long time trying to answer the same question I had come across before in a different manner.  Then one day I told this to a friend and they said "What on earth are you talking about... keep a record of all your questions and all your responses and if you have answered a question once exactly the way you want to then why fool around,  just paste it in the new interview."  The thing is this is true because all the people who read the Drik magazine article will be reading my views for the first time.  You are probably reading this and saying "yes obviously Bryn you toolbox"  but what can I say I always thought I had to write something new or it was cheating.

Wednesday, October 8, 2014

Art @ Algorithms

     I have been sent some images of the Art & Algorithms festival and am quite impressed with their set up.  Gary Zabel and the other organizers have done a great job introducing the public to the potential of using virtual environments as a medium for art.  As you can see in the girls face above, she is captivated by her interaction with the virtual space, despite being in a public place and being photographed.  The ability to tune out competing distractions is a big challenge in creating immersion within the viewer.
Singularity of Kumiko
Singularity of Kumiko
It is a fragile state yet they have done a wonderful job in creating a space that allows the guests to become immersed in the medium.   In looking at her body language we can see that she leans forward, which is a sign that she is interested or captivated by the experience (as opposed to leaning backwards which suggests rejection).  We live in a world which is becoming further based on mass stimulus.  Advertising is everywhere, and with the advent of "targeted" advertising, which focuses on observing our online behaviour and what not, I for one, am beginning to see an almost disconnect in some of my friends.  Some of them find it near impossible to ignore an incoming text message, thanks to the Pavlovian ding they give out.  Everything is competing to catch our attention.  I have other friends from the "cable cutter" generation, those who have removed their TVs and simply watch the occasional thing on Netflicks, I have noticed in these a clarity in their attention.  When you talk to them they focus on you, whereas, some other friends of mine who are the facebook, tv, phone addict types, they seem to be developing a need for.. god whats the word?  A need for excessive stimulus?  As though they have become accustomed or trained to require a bombardment of stimulus, real time updates, reward systems and so on, to maintain focus.   I have friends who can't read books anymore... not enough stimulus.  Anyway, so having said all this, I am encouraged to see this girl engrossed in the experience, I may be wrong but it seems to me as though the virtual space and narratives such as the Singularity of Kumiko, are experiences closer to a book in regards to using ones imagination and interaction, than to more modern forms which supply stimulus rather than allowing the viewer to create, from their imagination, the environments of the mind.  So for example, a book is not really considered interactive, but isn't it?  In text we are told about characters and places, then under the blankets in bed at night by the lamp, we imagine what the characters look like, their accents or grand vistas.  We imagine all this based on simple text which, to me, seems more interactive than a movie which provides all the imagery, characters and even movement.  Movement in that we follow the camera wherever it decides to take us, as opposed to the freedom of movement in an open ended environment such as the virtual space provides.

Thursday, October 2, 2014

Arts & Algorithms - Retrospective and Singularity of Kumiko on Immersiva

Condos in Heaven
Annas Many Murders
     In Titusville, Florida, opens a digital arts festival entitled Arts & Algorithms.  It will run from October 3-12, 2014 and is sponsored by everything from Galleries, Universities to NASA.  Dr. Gary Zabel contacted me quite some time ago to be involved in the festival and, speaking to him recently, he informs me that the entire organizing committee is very enthusiastic about what they have seen.   I have contributed two elements to the festival in the form of a region housing a retrospective of my work from 2007-2014 on LEA 9 (graciously provided by the LEA to the organizers) and my region Immersiva.  The retrospective was quite a challenging endeavour for two reasons.  The first being that all my early work from 2007 and later have all been unlinked and the prims had migrated.  I suppose that was a result of various changes over the years to SL, but yikes what a pain to reassemble things.  When I say prims migrated I mean,
World Expo and Orrey from "My Avatar and Me" movie
Rabbicorn Story
for example in the image above, that the head of the man might appear a foot over from his neck, and the boys elbow might be in a different spot etc.  All things to move back to their original spot, but when its lots of them it gets tiresome as you can imagine.  Linden Lab should really offer a service either as a perk of being a premium member or as an added charge, which allows builders to make a copy of their work which can then be loaded again at a later date.  Essentially a region rollback that the user can do themselves or schedule.  A region rollback is generally when your region has become all messed up and you ask Linden Lab to restore it to how it was on a previous date. A saved version of your region at a particular time.   But for example, the Singularity of Kumiko is an elaborate build.  After I delete it in a month or two, I doubt I will ever put it out again as the time and effort needed to reassemble it manually is quite daunting to think about.  Now imagine if I could set up Immersiva so that each week I could have a different build appear.  The first week of October is The Daughter of Gears, second week is Rabbicorn story, third Standby, then Annas Many Murder, Virginia Alone, Imogen and the pigeons and so on.  Second life needs content for the users, imagine the incredible amount of content that could suddenly appear for people in SL if sim owners could all do this.  Also, there are many regions that have been the same for years.  Builders sometimes create works which are very hard to let go of, especially when you know you will never bring it back if you delete it.  Offering this type of
Daughter of Gears
service would allow builders to keep creating new regions rather than sitting on a successful design for years.  Ideally, tier wouldn't be so stupidly expensive and people could keep one build and then on another region build something new, but I don't expect region prices to drop until the next SL comes out.  Anyway, back on topic.
Singularity of Kumiko
     The retrospective shows glimpses into what my full region narratives were like, machinima for each can be seen by clicking the titles.   They will be shown at the Art & Algorithms event on a screen and will allow visitors to the exhibit to navigate using an avatar.  On a second screen will be the full narrative of the Singularity of Kumiko on my region Immersiva.  So the guest will also get the opportunity to navigate the full immersive
Singularity of Kumiko
Nuit Blanche
Vogue Magazine
experience of a build as well.  This, to me, was very important as the immersive experience is what my work is really all about rather than individual pieces.  They have just now sent me an image of what the viewing stations for my artwork will look like and they are pretty impressive. I will post images later when they send me some.  Apparently they are not on the market yet, these viewing stations, but they kind of remind me of those robots in Star Wars that roll around everywhere then transform into a scorpion type bad guy.  Here are a few images of things that I don't think are mentioned in the retrospective but still part of Bryn Oh's history.  The first to the left is an image of Immersiva being shown on a monitor for Nuit Blanche, a worldwide art festival that goes from 7pm to 7am.  A huge fun all night thing.  They exhibited my machinima on all the subway monitors across the entire city of Toronto in a loop.  It was a surreal feeling being out that night waiting for trains and seeing my artwork on the monitors.  Hundreds of people on the platform watching them and not knowing it was me who created them, seeing as I am anonymous and nobody does know except a few friends.  The other image I am fond of is the Vogue magazine one which had me in an article.  It was just so completely strange, I mean really how on earth could I be in Vogue? So bizarre.
     In closing of this erratic blog post I will mention that there is another LEA region with more artists exhibiting at the event, but I don't have any information on it yet. I am not actually even sure if it will be public as they were concerned with lag.  I was looking on my radar and there are 18 bots there! For information on this one please contact Pixels Sideways.