Winning

i play counter-strike: source, the most popular online first-person-shooting game and the most perfect example of cyclical, random violence hidden behind a thin veil of purpose. for a long time (ten years) i've played and been fascinated by this game, but unable to make art of out it.

recently, i've been working on a new piece titled Winning. it's a simple idea: make a small room, place two opposing players (computer controlled bots), make it perpetual and see who wins. by removing the pretext of purpose from the game itself, distilling it down to the basic element of communication between the two sides, it very quickly becomes obvious how pointless this state is. one of the bots will win a round, but then the game resets and they play again and again and again. no one wins; because it doesn't end. it just goes on and on.

i had it running, projected on a wall, life size, volume cranked for an hour today. at one point the sheer pointlessness of it was too much and i started laughing like crazy. i had the giggles, the kind that leaves you red-faced and gasping, for 3 or 4 minutes. maybe that's what we're coming to in the world. the point where all of us stop pretending and just start laughing.

jump through this hoop to see more images and a really bad video. i'll get a screencast soon. hopefully i'll be able to exhibit this piece in october, here.