this is about oikospiel, David Kanaga’s game what is an opera of absurdism about the systems of making a game.
i was inspired to revisit the game after attending this interesting talk of Rob Gallagher about the mid-late 2010s ‘artgame’ and their relationship to the phenomenon of ‘gamergate’.
what inspired me was hearing more about its collaged nature, and really contextualising it outside of how i’d known it, as ‘the kind of game that journalists and gallerists liked for a bit’.
i played 5 minutes of it a couple of years ago and thought it was kinda wank since I’d played a bunch of meta stuff recently about complaining about making games. giving it a fairer shake though, a bunch of dogs being told to make a game by a billionaire and then unionising and striking when they don’t get their fair dues is actually quite funny. and its inbetedness to and reference of 19th/20th century absurdist theatre in Ubu Roi is fun and they’ve got link from zelda in there and a bunch of animals and stuff.
it reminded me of my own work fucking around in unity to create collages about ‘the state of things’ around 2019-2021. ten years on, and yeah even if the world’s still going to shit i think work like this still feels like it could have been made yesterday because it’s been a decade of embedding us in these conversations and technologies. just i doubt anyone would be as amazed about it now.
anyway i took some pictures when i liked something i saw or some arrangement that was cool.
to me collage is the mode that best is a reminder of you don’t have to follow a rule, and that you can make something today that talks to the past and material present directly. like loosening all the bolts on your chair so every time you move you’re maybe unsteadied but having a wild ride too.
GlitchOut 