Digital art is continuously developing and is
generally qualified as art work that incorporates technology and computers. It
has evolved into a diverse collection of practices that range from
object-oriented works to those art forms that integrate dynamic and interactive
elements with a process-driven virtual form.
The Internet has afforded many individuals a global
platform and exchange of information. For artists, the advent of the World Wide
Web and recent developments in wireless technologies and mobile devices enhance
the means of accessibility and mass circulation of artwork[1].
In addition, there has been a growing enterprise and popularity of
gaming. Currently, it is considered to be a billion dollar industry which has
been an important factor in the ‘digital revolution’ as it has explored many
paradigms that are now common in interactive art.[2] It
has become increasingly more lucrative and exceeds the film industry. Artists
have given games a different value other than entertainment or fun when it
merges and engages with culture. Pippin Bar is an artist who operates
within the realm of the Internet and combines both text and the tactics of
games to express and distribute his messages and work. He uses the structures
of games as a means of creative expression, as instruments for conceptual
thinking and as tools to help examine social issues and the world around us.
There is a wide variety of genres of games which includes strategic, shooters,
god games, and action.
Several successful video games are extremely
violent ‘shooters’ genre. Hence, it seems only likely that digital artworks
would critically investigate their interactive predecessors and counterparts
and explore their paradigms in a different context[3].
Video games such as, Barr’s War Game (2012) is an action
shooter game that explores the human psyche through a seemingly endless cycle
of fighting and self evaluation.
War Game [4]has
visual similarities to old halcyon handheld LCD games and Barr creates it with
features such as beep sounds, slow refresh rates and intentional glitches. As
the game progresses and as the user is further injured, the more glitches are
experienced. The glitches begin to take the form of civilians, letters and
harmful bombs. As the player is injured there is a mandatory mental health self
evaluation where the player expresses his/her own thoughts in 100 characters or
less on war, fighting and family. The glitches make everything difficult to
read and metaphorically appear that the soldier’s judgments and mental
constructs are slowly deteriorating every time the soldier is forced to fight
or experience more battles. Throughout history, there has been a mental illness
that is caused by war presently referred to as post-traumatic stress disorder.
Military combat is one the potential sources of this condition. The recent wars
in Iraq and Afghanistan have resulted in increased military related suicides.
In the year of 2009, approximately 1500 veterans who were deployed or
experienced these wars have made suicide attempts[5]. This aspect of the game is a commentary on the
mistreatment of military veterans and the effects on their health.
Additionally, in War Game, Barr
shows a human condition of fighting where it does not make sense, there are no
sides and there is no identity for the opponent. The game evokes rhetorical
questions such as, does the player even care about who is the opposition and
why the player is fighting this battle. The game is not sensible with
enticingly unconventional and unsolvable game goals that are not articulated.
Text becomes a vital element in the game. The decision of making the psyche
evaluation 100 characters in War Game makes a profound effect
on how the game operates. The limitation can suggest oppression as the player’s
answer is cut off immediately at the character limit which can also be
interpreted as a metaphor that the military psychologist is not listening. Barr
is making a statement on the human foibles such as excessive competitiveness
and winning against one another. There is the commentary of war being hopeless
and the question of the aspect of the play function or functionality[6].
Barr’s emphasises on the player’s process. As he is not solely the creator of
the work, Barr’s role is a facilitator for audiences’ interaction and
contribution to the artwork.
Another game is Let there be Smite! (2011)[7]:
This is a humorous god game that allows the user to play the role of God and to
decide whether to punish or forgive all the sinners in the world. The humour of
the game focuses on religion and god games. It is also a satire on the social
behaviours of humans. It equates being God as a metaphor of monotonous and tedious
desk job where the player deals with the sins of the world as they arise. Sins
are defined by the parameters of the Ten Commandments. The player can either
forgive or smite the sinner in an infinite cycle. The visual simulation is a
view of a “surveillance” camera and then popping dialog boxes that notify the
users of the sins committed by the community. As the population grows, the
speed of the sins committed increases and it becomes increasingly overwhelming
and ultimately the player may activate the panic button can be activated where
in the virtual reality a great flood occurs and washes away the sinners to
start humanity afresh. However, it is a cycle of a community that is committing
a wide range of sins. [8] During this chaos, there is the moment when the
player would no longer read and respond to the sins in an inattentive manner.
In games, it is common that players would consider their course of action,
however the game intensifies that inattentive state while proceeding in
relation to the ambiguous boundaries of accepted morals and behaviours that
should not be treated in that unmanageable way. Barr’s design creates the
impression that humanity is bound to commit sins, that humans have weaknesses
and foibles and the role of God is to decide how much can be tolerated.
Furthermore, Barr sees games as a fascinating means
to circumvent the unconscious expression and authorship itself. His strategy of
clever manipulations of data, texts, phrases and visuals contribute to
humorous, satirical and wry commentaries on art and world issues. Barr is
concerned with social issues and employs game-like structures and interactivity
as the opportunity to involve the viewers in heightened ways. Although
any experience with art is interactive, it relies on a relationship between
context and production of meaning from the audience. Thus, the
interactive experience of traditional forms resonates as a mental event in the
viewer. However, the interactivity in digital art offers different forms of
navigating, assembling, or contributing to an artwork that goes beyond this
purely mental event. The participant’s involvement is with a work confronted
with complex possibilities of remote and immediate interventions that are
unique to the digital medium[8].
Barr provides a lens through which we engage the world not just the arts but
also politics, the military, psychology and history. Barr spurs untraditional
approaches to game design and tries to foster intervention which can address
social issues.
Since the early 1990s, digital art had made
profound developments and it continues to expand. It engages audiences in a
unique process that consists of information, textual, visual and aural
components and does not reveal the artist’s intention and content at a glance.
The expansion of digital technology will continue to have a great impact on the
world. Artists often mirror their time and induce the creation of even more
artworks that reflect and critically engage life and culture. The artist
manipulates content, codes of conduct, contact conception and ways of interacting.
[4] Pippin Barr. “War Game”. Accessed October
16, 2012. http://www.pippinbarr.com/inininoutoutout/?tag=war-game
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/11/02/suicide_n_1070491.html
[6] MOMA. “ Contemporary Art Forum: Critical Play
– The Game as an Art Form”. Accessed on October 13, 2012.
http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/events/13985
[7] Pippin Barr. “War Game”. Accessed October 16,
2012. http://www.pippinbarr.com/inininoutoutout/?tag=let-there-be-smite
[8]Pippin
Barr. “War Game”. Accessed October 16, 2012. http://www.pippinbarr.com/inininoutoutout/?tag=let-there-be-smite
[9] Wong, Chee-Onn, Keechul Jung, and Joonsung
Yoon. “Interactive Art: The Art That Communicates.” Leonardo 42,
no. 2 (January 1, 2009): 180–181.
