GAME ART

Game Art: Rizki R. Utama (oQ)' "Me Vs. the Argots" (2006)

Matteo

Matteo

— 1 min read

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"Me Vs. The Argots" (2006) is a single channel video (5:33 mins) created by Indonesian artist Ritzki R. Utama (oQ) (1982-) and exhibited at the Singapore Biennale in 2008. Here's the curator's statement:

"The game ends when the screen flashes: Insert More Coins. The game is, however, being played on the dangerous streets of Indonesia. And the artist Rizki R. Utama (oQ), weaves his work through the city, with the metropolis as backdrop and subject for his photographic and video experiments. A member of the artists’ group and alternative space Buton Kultur 21 in Bandung, Utama has created amusing and playful artworks with pointed allusions to Indonesia’s way of life. In the video projection, Me vs The Angkots (2006), Utama has produced a video that has been the fantasy of irate drivers the world over. Without pushing it to the imaginable violence that the video brings to mind, it allows us to enter that space of seeing the chaos of street traffic as a game where we drive as daredevils and receive points for doing so. Transportation in Indonesia is a jumble of cars, motorcycles, becaks (cycle rickshaws) and angkots (a minibus/taxi, which takes in several passengers). Angkots, like becaks, can be flagged at any point and stop anywhere at the passenger’s request." (Joselina Cruz, Nafas)

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