Game Art: Axel Stockburger’s Mi gesto final (2015)

Axel Stockburger’s contributio

a 9 minute video piece entitled Mi Gesto

s Stockburger writes:

The video was shot in the countryside outside Havana and relates to the Cuban computer game; La Gesta Final. In this first-person shooter, players can experience the Cuban revolution from an individual perspective. The video piece consists of tracking shots through dense jungle, grasslands, and mountain forest, while the audio consists of accounts, from different players, of their (virtual) experiences of the revolution. Mi Gesto Final engages with the meaning of the history of the Cuban revolution for contemporary young Cubans and asks how historical events are mediated by digital games. It is precisely the historical character of an event such as a revolution that stands in stark contrast with the perpetual repetition of actions in a computer game. In this sense the piece opens up a space for the negotiation of the possibilities of radical political action within technological and cultural frameworks characterized by digital simulation.

During the Cuban Biennial, Mi gesto final is not shown on a large screen, but on a tablet equipped with headphones in order to offer a personal, intimate viewing experience. As Stuckburger explains,

This form of presentation is conceptually informed by the current system of digital media dissemination in Cuba, called “Pakete”, where individuals share data via hard drives and flash media.

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Submitted by Matteo Bittanti