GAME ART: PETRA SZÉMAN'S MONOMYTH: GAIDEN / MASTER OF TWO WORLDS (2020)
Petra Széman's monumental Monomyth: gaiden series has reached its destination. With the latest and last installment Monomyth: gaiden/ Master of Two Worlds, Széman's the meta-referential, self-reflexive series that pay homage to Skyrim, among other things, is now complete. The grinding of everyday life acquires a whole new meaning in an endless loop of identity play. The penultimate episode, Return, was recently exhibited on VRAL.
Born in Budapest, Hungary, Petra Szemán is a moving image artist working with animation and game-like immersive installations. Her practice is centered around instances in which real life can be experienced as fictional. Using a virtual version of herself as a protagonist across various digital realms, she explores liminal spaces and threshold situations, looking to dissect the ways our memories and selves are constructed within a landscape oversaturated with fiction both on- and off-screen. Rejecting the idea of cyberspace as a radically alternative realm, Petra walks the line situated between dystopia and utopia. Petra is a recent Fine Art graduate from Newcastle University (2013-2017) and has exhibited since graduation at NEoN Festival in Dundee, Scotland; Big Screen Southend; BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art in Gateshead, as well as various galleries across the North East of England. She is currently based in Tsukuba, Japan, developing new work as a recipient of a research scholarship from the Japanese Ministry of Education and Culture (2018-2020).
LINK: