Note: If you see this text you use a browser which does not support usual Web-standards. Therefore the design of Media Art Net will not display correctly. Contents are nevertheless provided. For greatest possible comfort and full functionality you should use one of the recommended browsers.

Themesicon: navigation pathGenerative Toolsicon: navigation pathGame Art
 
 
 
 
 

icon: previous page

C3, they made a first modification of ‹first person Shooter› «Quake,»[11] which has since been followed by many more new variations under the name «Untitled Game.» [12] These depart in ever stronger, alarming and exciting ways from the appearance and rules of the original game. About the same time, Margarete Jahrmann and Max Moswitzer, with their work entitled «LinX3D» (1999), brought the game called «Unreal» into an abstract debate with the ‹materiality› of code. The works of Jodi and Moswitzer/Jahrmann, therefore, led to several themes which would soon interest other artists. While simple modifications of existing architectures into computer game architectures quickly turned into a blind alley, these artists concentrated on the special graphic qualities of the games. These were subjected to merciless deconstruction in a manner similar to that done earlier on the Websites of Jodi’s Internet projects. For Jodi, the manipulation of the graphical interface was not enough—they also began to be interested in the non-visual aspects of software. This included, for example, the user’s guide and the ‹game physics› which Jodi changed to the point of being almost completely

 

unusable for the game. This is the approach that artists like Tom Betts and Joan Leandre used as a starting point in their work. In this text, we will concern ourselves with art that has come about through interchange with games. Therefore, works that utilize codes of computer games as the foundations for their own works will be in the focus of attention. I will not, however, limit myself to this area alone. It seems to be in the nature of this topic that artists have not limited themselves to ‹exclusively› re-working codes but have dealt with all facets of the many levelled themes of computer games. This specifically also includes excursions into ‹traditional› areas of art production—like painting, installations or video. This multi-facetted nature had a pleasant side effect for the exhibition called «games. Computerspiele von KünstlerInnen» which could be seen in 2003 at the hARTware medien kunst verein[13]. The presentation, which I conceived and for which I acted as a curator, together with hARTware founders Iris Dressler and Hans D. Christ, could not limit itself to showing computer programs running on computers but also had to include installations, paintings and video. The following ideas

icon: next page