Transmediale 06 -- Jodi 2005

Jodi stands for simulated chaos, dysfunctionality and fun. For a few years now they have also been modifying and dismantling software and computer games. One of these is the popular action game Max Payne,which in film-noir style tells stories of the eponymous undercover New York cop, and from which they have deliberately selected scenes without much action -- the excitement of the original has completely disappeared. Jodi have intervened in the programme structure in such a way that absurd perspectives and effects alter the game's otherwise realistic graphics: we see the massive hero repeating idiotic movements; he dips his angular head into a virtual matrix; his body appears semitransparent. The re-processing can be read as a free interpretation of the bullet-time effect that distinguishes Max Payne from other games, by which the slow motion enables a new perception of space and time. The game is actually supposed to guarantee entry into an imaginary world, yet here the hero is neutralised. For the installation two video images are projected onto a spatial construction, which creates an additional break with the game's claim to realism.

Category:

Entertainment

Tags:

• jodi
• videogames
• games
• netart
• digitalarts