Game Art: Simon Mitchell's "Unblinking" (2012)

Simon Mitchell's new installation, “Unblinking”, was "created from seven columns of directed light which can rotate to track the viewer, or even those just walking by." (Mitchell) The Watch Dogs wikia adds that

"The inspiration came from a trip to a grocery store, where Mitchell forgot what he was going to buy, and the monitor made a gesture saying "walk in", Mitchell though it was their way of saying "we are watching you!" since he would see it a thousand times, after reminding what he was going to buy he felt like "I can’t even buy milk without someone watching me".

Mitchell's installation is featured in the upcoming videogame Watch Dogs, by Ubisoft, which will be released in 2013. In case you are not familiar with Mitchell's work, here's a short bio

"Mitchell was born and brought up in Carrboro, North Carolina and became a student of the Rhode Island School of Design. After finishing the course, working with the Dot ConneXion artists brought Mitchell to Chicago which also became an inspiration to him since he was then in an environment with a great culture and diversity."

In an interview hosted on the memorial site Dot ConneXion for the philantrophist Joseph De Marco - who was shot dead by Aiden Pearce - Mitchell revealed his hopes and fears about " a culture that doesn’t value art as essential":

"[I am] Terrified, but hopeful. I think there are a lot of hidden costs to raising a culture that doesn’t value art as essential. You know, we kind of treat art like it’s a nice-to-have. If there’s not enough money in the budget, it’s always the first thing to go. And I don’t just mean schools. You see it in businesses, in the government, in churches. It’s always, you know, logistics and efficiency trump all. But a culture that doesn’t value beauty and virtue, I’m not sure you can call that a culture at all. And throughout history I think art has done more to give man something to aspire to than any other endeavor. But we’re also at a point where everything is so connected, you can reach just about anyone anywhere. So I’m hopeful that maybe we’ll be able to use that connectivity to touch people and to re-awaken them to what art is and what it means." (Simon Mitchell)

Simon Mitchell
Submitted by Matteo Bittanti (via Aram Bartholl)