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Vertical Slice
Installation
Nitja senter for samtidskunst, Lillestrøm, Norway
2022
In ancient times cyclops walked the earth as beings of singular insight. They were humanoids who transcended their third eye into the only eye that saw the world. It was in their gaze, walls between worlds interlinked, and became portals of mind. These beings were GIANTS with bodies composed of immaterial labor, obtained in mystical ways. They were abominations and took many shapes, but always with an eye portal at their core. To encounter one is to walk the razor's edge. It is uncertain IF you get cut into bits, and WHERE your parts fall to pieces. Beware of your secrets, because a cyclops is able to tear down the wall between your inner world and the outer world, and leave you naked and confused. Muster a strong heart to keep your body in one place and you might stand a chance! If you are a curious soul you might travel with a cyclops. It could take you places your thoughts never dared go. There are wondrous tales of cyclops' ways of logic which have inspired alchemists throughout the ages. Some of these wonders were managed by the alchemists and put into shapes that our eyes can see. But most of these ways of logic are scattered, OUT of grasp and into space, where they wait for a cyclops to hyperblink.
Vertical Slice er en installation, som præsenterer temaer såsom quest, boss battle og magic items som nedslag fra scenarier i rollespil og computerspil.
Under værkets tilblivelse hengiver The Gaming Department sig til fantasien. Herefter inviteres beskueren til at deltage i legen gennem interaktion med værkerne.
Navnet Vertical Slice er et udtryk fra videospilindustrien, som beskriver et udsnit af processens forskellige lag, hvorfra data arkiveres, til hvordan dataen kodes og til sidst møder spilleren i det færdige spil.
The Gaming Department bruger termen Vertical Slice symbolsk, og henleder beskuerens opmærksomhed på, hvilke måder man linker det digitale med det fysiske. Alle objekter er decimerede til polygoner, der forsimpler en kompleks form så en computer nemmere kan “afspille” dem. Dette er også kendt som low poly-æstetik og er brugt som greb gennem installationen.
Loot, battle boss, quest, MMORPG, low poly, XP-points, ding, magic items, BRB, bind on pick up, bind on equip, raid, level up, grinding, tank, healer, DPS, wizard, mage, warlock, n00b, respawn.
These words may seem incomprehensible and foreign, like codes or a tribal language, but for the many people who play video games around the world, these are parts of a well-known vocabulary.
For example, “respawn” means that when your game character dies, it can come back to life, and you can continue the game. The expression also reflects something of the limitlessness and the many possibilities that online video games and virtual worlds represent.
Game technology and design have changed greatly since the first home computer games were launched in the 1970s. Awareness of the visual is strongly at play as a cultural expression, and if we look at the art field we also find several artists working across genres, and using the same technology to create art. The overlaps between visual art and video games are many, and in this exhibition we wish to explore in this crossover genre. Much like the virtual sphere of video games, the possibilities of creation within this crossover are seemingly endless.
Funded by:
