VRAL is currently showcasing Filip Kostic’s 2019 game video Filip Kostic VS Filip Kostic in a brand new format. To contextualize this specific artwork as well as the artist’s oeuvre, we will be discussing a series of artworks influenced, inspired and/or developed with video games and game tools, such as the Unreal Engine. Today we are happy to present Booty Bay Open Studios (2020).
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Kostic’s amusing Booty Bay Open Studio is a fascinating intersection of art and gaming unfolding through the virtual persona of “Jerrysaltz the Undead Warlock,” clearly modeled after Jerry Saltz, America’s preeminent art critic. Situated in the fantastical realm of World of Warcraft, this avant-garde initiative poses compelling questions about the valuation and interpretation of art within a simulated, magical world. Employing a diverse toolkit of visual aids – ranging from in-game photography to meticulously constructed diagrams, mind maps, and charts – the project engages participants in an enthralling artistic journey in a land ruled by Orcs, Goblins, and Warriors.
The setting for this experiential foray into art criticism is the fictitious Booty Bay Studios, hereby described as an iconic trading hub, renowned as the largest of its kind in all of Azeroth and the Horde territories. The experience transcends the usual paradigms of art exhibits, turning into what can only be described as a whimsical, yet incisive, art crawl. But the true depths of the project’s humor and subtext can be fully grasped only by those proficient in two distinct dialects: the specialized lexicon of WoW’s geography and gameplay mechanics, and the nuanced vocabulary of contemporary art critique.
Matteo Bittanti
Work cited
Filip Kostic
Booty Bay Open Studios, digital video, color, sound, 7’ 18", Serbia, 2020
All images and video courtesy of the artist
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