GameScenes is conducting a series of interviews with artists, critics, curators, and gallery owners operating in the field of Game Art, as part of an ongoing investigation of the social history of this artworld. Our goal is to illustrate the genesis and evolution of a phenomenon that changed how game-based art is being created, experienced, and discussed today.
After two successful seasons, in May 2012 we launched the third series. Today we are chatting with American-born artist Mark Beasley.
Re-enacting seminal artistic performances in a game environment is standard practice in Game Art. Consider, for instance, Rainey Straus and Katherine Isbister's re-staging of a Vanessa Beecroft’s performance in The Sims. And in "Synthetic Performances" (2007), Eva and Franco Mattes aka 0100101110101101.ORG, have appropriated & replicated a series of performances in the online virtual world of Second Life. In 2007, Mark Beasley created "Vito Acconci (The video game)", a trilogy of artistic video games in which the player can re-enact famous performance by Acconci, specifically, "Following Piece" (1969), "Centers" (1971), and "Seedbed" (1972). Interestingly, it is the player, rather than Beasley himself, who is in charge of the re-enactement. With the help of a Wii-remote control, the user can play as Vito Acconci. For example, in the original "Following Piece", executed daily over one month, Acconci followed one randomly chosen stranger through the streets of New York until he or she entered a private location. In Beasley's game, the goal is to stalk a person on the street but when the distance between the stalker and the followed becomes too large, the game is over.
Mathias Jansson discussed the Vito Acconci's game trilogy with Mark Beasley. The interview took place via email in April 2012.
Mark Beasley, Vito Acconci (the video game), interactive game, 2007
GameScenes: What kind of issues are you investigating with your artworks?
Mark Beasley: I'm interested in using art as a space to introspect the ongoing relationship between culture and technology and how each shapes the other.
GameScenes: When did you start to play videogames and what kinds of games or genres do you like?
Mark Beasley: My first videogame memory is watching my dad play Final Fantasy III. He beat it, and didn't play another game for two decades. Now he's an avid gamer. It's interesting to see how the medium has really opened up and become more forgiving & appealing to the casual gamer. I played a ton of SimCity 2000 and later 3000 and Myst along with console games for NES, PlayStation, and N64. I also love art games, obviously.
Mark Beasley, Vito Acconci (the video game), interactive game, 2007
GameScenes: In 2007 you created a series of video games replicating in a playful context three performances by Vito Acconci. What is you own relation to Acconci's work and why did you choose these three performances in particular?
Mark Beasley: Acconci was an early influence and inspiration. At the time I was looking at a lot of early video art, and participating in the burgeoning field of new media and web/net art, and saw a corollary to each epoch's subjects and interests. Acconci's video works in particular are very reflexive, playful, exploratory and loose. That resonated and really reflected the energy of working with new technologies towards an artistic output. The pieces I chose were both for their importance and for those traits mentioned as well as being my favourite works of his.
Mark Beasley, Vito Acconci (the video game), interactive game, 2007
GameScenes: What kind of tools did you use to create these games? Aesthetics, formats, and contexts aside, how do your re-enactements differ from the originals?
Mark Beasley: Two of the games are made with Processing (processing.org) and one with Flash. The games honor Acconci's time structures and general situation. With Follow Piece, I gamified it a bit with rules specifying a range of distance you must maintain from the person you're following. The Centers and Seedbed are more direct with points awarded based on how well you perform the game/performance mechanic.
Mark Beasley, Vito Acconci (the video game), interactive game, 2007
GameScenes: What is your take on the potential of video games as artistic tools?
Mark Beasley: My practice is flexible and ideas have their natural output, so I think games are always a means and tool for artistic expression. I see them as an incredibly affective, compelling and complex space for interactivity between a creator and consumer/user.
LINK: Mark Beasley
Releated: “From Plaintext Players to Avatars Actors: A Short Survey of Online Gaming Performance” by Mathias Jansson
Interview archives: Contemporary Practitioners; The Early Years
Text by Mathias Jansson
Editing: Matteo Bittanti
All images courtesy of Mark Beasley
Comments