Warcraft in the Real World
I was a horrible student, both in high school and in college. I resented having to take classes that I knew had no bearing on my future interests, and ended up getting quite poor grades even though I was perfectly capable of completing the tasks and taking the tests. I just didn't show up. As my college career wore on I was able to focus more on my own interests, including art history. My 400-level art history classes in college were my absolute favorite, taught by the brilliant William Folkestad. I was fascinated by art of previous decades and how important all of it seemed. How we live in a post-post-post-post modern world and how it feels like all the good art is behind us. Performance art fascinated me the most, and the happenings of the 1970's excited me. Performance art in the States today is a bit stifled, barring the antics of groups like Improv Everywhere and the Graffiti Research Lab. But in Europe? It seems to flourish.
Artists in Europe have embraced home brew technology. They utilize it in amazing ways, and many of their techno-flavored interests are leaking into the video game realm. Take these two projects, influenced by the omnipresent World of Warcraft and Second Life, presented by a man named Aram Bartholl (seen above with the giant axe-thing). Aram is creating World of Warcraft weapons that he plans on carrying around in Berlin, most likely documenting people's reactions to something so common in the virtual world, but so foreign in the actual. Playing with context and shaking up the way you see your daily life is what art is all about, and the increase in popularity of video games is providing great inspiration for this process.
The other project that fascinated me is this one which allows two people to chat at each other using over-the-head word bubbles. Again, taking something commonly seen in a video game and transporting it into the real world. The effect is at the same time amusing and jarring.
You can view more of Aram's stuff over at We Make Money Not Art, and read more about the neat stuff that is happening over across the water.
[link via (and images taken from) WMMNA]
What say you?!