Art aka Game

So modules/portals. All use interactivity and technology. I am also interested in the using the game format in art not only as a format but as a development process. I like the idea of being able to test out the modules, making it user/experiencer focused. Since it is interactive, it becomes important and possible to approach it like game making/development.

So the last module/portal/level is not only interactive, but is also _finally_ collaborative. Though a choice, if you learned a lesson, if you had an epiphany, then if you at least recognized it or questioned it, then you may decide to engage in the collaboration. And for me, I want a singular experience to differ from a collaborative experience and hopefully it will be a ‘better’ experience or at least one with more information? I guess subjectively it will be a more valuable experience.

Maybe it will bring a psychological bias — a subconscious understanding. You love television but you have no understanding of how that image is visible to you on screen. You walk away and you may not know what you took from the experience but subconsciously you infer that collaboration leads to greater ‘success’ or ‘reward’ than singular effort.

I am not making a game and calling it art. I believe art is a game. It is an experience. Intention of an artist to externalize to communicate and then viewer experiencing it. Not saying all art is a game, just that some art is a game.

I have been trying to create this art, externalize these communications, these messages since I was a child, since for as long as I can remember.

Work with chemistry sets, write out math formulas, make a great soup, style your clothes, put on makeup/hair. I did all of these things and I was trying to communicate specifically to find others who would understand, so they would interact with me, and this could lead to CONNECTION.

So I kept trying to find others who would see my ‘art’ and my communicated messages and understand my ideas, and the best way for you to understand that is not for me to just verbally pour them out to you, but for you to GO THROUGH the experience and see if you came to the same conclusions! So I made Experiences. Aftgerall, if we went through a bank robbery or a natural disaster or an adventure — bonding occurs. But even on the level of something like we both are forced at age 10 to wash the dishes or do chores, then we can better understand our disgust or frustration with parents or rules.

So I kept making these Live Action experiences. And I would watch their interactions to analyze it and then recognize if they responded in the same way I did/would to elements I thought represented my concepts. That way I could recognize them as understanding me.

So I would think about how I felt about something important to me. Like wanting to end suffering of animals, and I would create an element in the live action game I was making where there would be an animal, maybe even one in trouble, and the experiencer’s response would then help me to understand their feelings toward suffering animals and I could gauge whether they were of a like mind. Sometimes I might just be thinking of something more abstract like “curiosity is good” and then if they didn’t go down a side quest or did not solve a puzzle that required exploration, I would note that we were not similar in this regard.

D said my project really sounded like ME. And I agree. I understand why it is me, why it is the culmination of what I am. And I understand too though why I have not made this before or why I spend time trying to help others realize their own work or worked on other smaller trials etc.. But I am not sad. Some of the reasons are sad, because I have not felt connected and I have not found people who understand or to connect to, but whatever happens, understanding my desires, my thoughts, my plan, now, is still satisfying to me.

This did also bring me to my conclusion of the thesis that I’d like to see [may not happen] but since it is so much a part of me to try and find connection through this ‘test’/’game’ I think that I would review an experiencer’s progress through my piece sometimes and if they ‘qualified’ they would be pulled aside to MEET ME. And maybe I would act real or maybe I would act like Poppy or maybe sometimes it would not be me [though introduced as the artist]. And I think that is the perfect culmination of not only my thoughts, my intentions, my goals, my everything, but also it reflects the art that I actually love. Cardiff and the interactive casino table with card and Sleep No More.