I love the self-reflexivity of Nolan's new project, Arcade Operator, "an experimental meta game that explores the interface as defined by the context of the user."As Nolan writes, the "project uses the arcade videogame interface as a medium through which to examine its own connective properties." Specifically, it highlights the difference between Game Design, Game Art, and game playing:
The arcade operator who runs the arcade and maintains the machines has a unique, non-play level of interaction with the machine, performing repair and maintenance tasks on the same hardware. Similarly game developers and engineers connect with the same computational system through different interface contexts, while game art practitioners use gaming platforms (both hardware and software) as raw materials for their own unique creators context. (Nolan)
Arcade Operator is the follow-up to Nolan's previous game, Control (2015), also focusing on the affordances and constraints of game interfaces:
Kieran Nolan (b. 1976, IE) is an artist-researcher exploring the connective and aesthetic properties of arcade videogame interfaces. He is Programme Director of the BA in Media Arts and Technologies at Dundalk Institute of Technology, and a PhD candidate in Digital Arts and Humanities with the GV2 Research Group at Trinity College, Dublin.
LINK: Kieran Nolan
