Game Art: Marc Owens' ”Avatar Machine” (2008)

Thanks to Marc Owens' “Avatar Machine”, we can now behave in real space as if we were playing a third person videogame. This platform replicates the aesthetics and visuals of third person gaming, allowing the user to view themselves as a virtual character in real space via a head mounted interface.  As a modern Alice in Wonderland, by looking into the mirror one is transported into an alternative world. Born in 1982, 3D artist Marc Owens explores the convergence between real spaces and virtual spaces.

“Avatar Machine” is somehow reminiscent of Aram Bartholl's "First-Person Shooter" (2006), a do-it-yourself kit to that turns reality into an FPS game. Cut and paste a lo-tech paper postcard to make a pair of glasses, and in the lower corners of the glasses you will see an arm holding a weapon from Counterstrike. Wearing thew glasses makes the magic happens: all of a sudden, you'll find yourself in the middle of an FPS!

“When a player wears the glasses, the arm holding a weapon always remains in the front, regardless of the direction in which the player moves his or her head. Attached to the eyes, the glasses reflect the strongly visual character of the game. The private space between the eyes and the gun is contrasted by public space in which the user of the glasses is identified from the outside as a first-person shooter.” (Aram Bartholl)