NEWS: CHRIS KERICH IS NOT DONE PILING UP CORPSES

A screenshot from Piles (Hitman), a performance by Chris Kerich, 2018

There’s a powerful scene in Pablo Larrain’s Postmortem (2010), in which the protagonist Mario (Alfredo Castro), walks nonchalantly among piles of bodies. Mario is a transcription clerk in a hospital morgue that suddenly fills up due to an unforeseen event. Postmortem is set in September 1973, after the CIA-backed coup that culminated with the overthrowing of the democratically elected president Salvador Allende and the extermination of thousands of Chileans (Americans are generally cool with direct intervention in other countries’ internal affairs — elections included — as long as they are the perpetrators rather than the victims: this is why “9/11” means very different things to Chileans and Americans).

Chris Kerich’s Viscera Cleanup Detail (Piles) is featured in this year’s special screening series THE CLASSICAL ELEMENTS. Clocking at around eighty minutes, is the longest work at MMF MMXXI, but it’s only a portion of a larger body of work (no pun intended) entitled Piles (2018), “a collection of over 22 hours of video recordings, livestreamed on Twitch, of the piling up of dead or unconscious bodies in seven different video games: Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, Skyrim, Hitman, Metal Gear Solid V, Viscera Cleanup Detail, Slime Rancher, and Tabletop Simulator.” In a wide ranging video interview with Gemma Fantacci, Luca Miranda, and Riccardo Retez, the American artist currently enrolled in a PhD program at U.C. Santa Cruz discusses a project that spawned a variety of paratexts, including eight short critical essays on his website (here’s one on Dishonored, here’s another on Hitman). The pace of Piles is eclectic, ranging from the frantic to the slow and meditative (Hitman is a perfect example of “slow machinima”).

Viscera Cleanup Detail (2015) is a self-referential janitorial simulation game developed by RuneStorm. Players perform as a janitor tasked with cleaning up the gory aftermath of gunfights that have taken place in various science fiction environments. The goal is to remove bodies, corpses, limbs and organs left behind by unseen characters. However, the artist’s intention clashes with the game designers’ intended goals. As Kerich explains in his accompanying statement,

In this video I do anything but clean, and actually leave the level I have selected, “Evil Science”, even dirtier than it was to begin with. […] I only use the mop to try to dislodge a limb that is stuck under a table and otherwise just use the janitors’ ability to carry things to create the pile.

Piles is a multi-layered commentary on themes ranging from the ethics of game mechanics to the representation of death in digital spaces. “Like all the other bodies in this project, their mechanical function and infrastructural purpose defines their representation and their corporeality,” he concludes. If somebody were to stumble into one of his videos on the web — which would not be easy since they are unlisted on YouTube and “surrounded” by contextual, critical information on the artist’ website — they could hastily dismiss them as just another of the hundreds of prankish, juvenile videos currently hosted on YouTube (yes, body piling in video games is a “thing”). But unlike most of such vernacular videos, Piles has a strong political subtext. As Kerich explains,

The symbolic resonance of a pile of bodies in a game is political. The mechanics of how a pile of bodies is made in a game is political. The infrastructure governing how aesthetic representation maps to gameplay mechanics in a game is political. Who has access to power, and what kind, in a game is political. Who has the access and time to play a game is political. Watch closely, and take none of it for granted.

Both the invisible janitor of Viscera Cleanup Detail and the morgue clerk in Larrain’s Postmortem seem cogs in the machine: after all, piling up bodies or certifying their deaths is just a bureaucratic gesture, devoid of any meaning or consequence. They cannot undo what just happened nor they show any interest to. On one level, they are mere accomplices. On another, however, the obsessive repetition of their mortifying acts and the accumulation of inanimate objects elevate their task to the realm of performance art.

Chris Kerich is a programmer and artist living and working in Santa Cruz, California. He is interested in systems — and their breaking up —, constrained art, information, critical science studies, and video games. A candidate in the Doctorate program in Film and Digital Media Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz, Chris received a Master of Arts from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2017 and a Bachelor of Science from Carnegie Mellon University in 2013. His works has been exhibited internationally including digital art retrospectives like the MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL (2019) and Vector Festival (2018), Toronto, Canada.

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In una delle scene più memorabili di Postmortem (Pablo Larrain, 2010), il protagonista Mario (Alfredo Castro), cammina con nonchalance tra mucchi di corpi. Mario è un mero impiegato dell’obitorio di un ospedale che si riempie rapidamente dopo un evento inaspettato. Il suo lavoro consiste nel certificare che la morte delle vittime non è riconducibile al suicidio. Postmortem è ambientato nel settembre 1973, dopo il colpo di stato promosso dalla CIA che culminò con il rovesciamento del presidente democraticamente eletto Salvador Allende e lo sterminio di migliaia di cileni (gli americani non hanno alcun problema ad a intervenire direttamente nelle elezioni di altri paesi nella misura in cui non sono bersagli bensì mandanti dell’”interferenza”: il significato dell’“undici settembre” per i cileni e e per gli statunitensi non coincide).

Viscera Cleanup Detail (Piles) di Chris Kerich è inserito nel ciclo di proiezioni speciali THE CLASSICAL ELEMENTS. Grazie a una durata di circa ottanta minuti è l’opera più lunga tra quelle presentate all’MMF MMXXI. Tuttavia, rappresenta un semplice frammento di un ambizioso progetto intitolato Piles (2018), che consiste in “oltre 22 ore di registrazioni video, trasmesse in live streaming su Twitch dell’accumulo di corpi morti o incoscienti in sette diversi videogiochi: Dishonored: Death of the Outsider, Skyrim, Hitman, Metal Gear Solid V, Viscera Cleanup Detail, Slime Rancher e Tabletop Simulator”. In una video intervista con Gemma Fantacci, Luca Miranda e Riccardo Retez, l’artista americano e dottorando all’Università di Santa Cruz, in California ha discusso la concezione ed evoluzione di un progetto che ha generato una varietà di paratesti, tra cui otto brevi saggi critici pubblicati sul suo sito web. Il ritmo dei vari segmenti di Piles è eclettico e spazia dal frenetico al contemplativo (per esempio, il segmento dedicato a Hitman esemplifica in forma paragidmatica la nozione di “slow machinima”).

Viscera Cleanup Detail (2015) è un gioco di simulazione di pulizie autoreferenziale sviluppato da RuneStorm. Il giocatore assume i panni di un addetto alle pulizie incaricato di sanificare gli spazi in cui hanno avuto luogo sanguinosi scontri a fuoco. In altre parole, l’obiettivo non è sporcare di sangue il pavimento e le pareti, come in un tradizionale sparatutto in soggettiva, ma rimuovere le vittime: corpi, cadaveri, arti e organi. Tuttavia, l’intento dell’artista non coincide con gli obiettivi prefissati dai designer. Come spiega Kerich nel suo testo introduttivo, “In questo video lascio il livello che ho selezionato, Evil Science in uno stato ancora più lercio di quanto non fosse all'inizio. […] Uso il mocio solo per cercare di rimuovere un arto che è bloccato sotto un tavolo e altrimenti sfrutta l’abilità dei custodi nel trasportare oggetti per creare un mucchio di cadaveri”.

Piles è una penetrante riflessione su temi differenti, dall’etica delle meccaniche di gioco alla rappresentazione della morte negli spazi digitali. “Come tutti gli altri corpi che fanno capolino all’interno di questo progetto, la loro funzione meccanica e il loro scopo infrastrutturale definisce la loro rappresentazione e la loro corporeità”, conclude. Se qualcuno s’imbattesse nei video di Kerich online “per sbaglio” — il che non sarebbe facile dato che non sono esplicitamente visualizzati su YouTube e per di più sono “circondati” da informazioni critiche e contestuali — qualcuno potrebbe liquidarli come un esempio di tanti altri video buffi, bizzarri e comici attualmente ospitati su YouTube (la dpcumentazione audiovisiva dell’accumulo dei corpi nei videogiochi rappresenta un vero e proprio genere). Ma a differenza della maggior parte di queste produzioni vernacolari, Piles non fa mistero del proprio sottotesto politico.

Come spiega Kerich,

La risonanza simbolica di un mucchio di corpi in un videogioco è politica. La meccanica sottesa alla costruzione di una pila di corpi in un gioco è politica. L’infrastruttura che governa il modo in cui la rappresentazione estetica si associa alle meccaniche di un videogioco è politica. Chi ha accesso al potere, e di che tipo, all’interno di un videogioco è una questione politica. Chi ha accesso e tempo per videogiocare è una questione politica. Guarda attentamente e non dare nulla per scontato.

In apparenza, tanto il custode invisibile di Viscera Cleanup Detail quanto l’impiegato di Postmortem di Larrain paiono meri ingranaggi all’interno di una macchina mostruosa: l’accumulo dei corpi e la certificazione della loro morte sono un puro gesto burocratico, privo di qualsiasi significato o conseguenza. I due non possono annullare quanto è successo né manifestano alcun interesse a farlo. In un certo senso, sono complici del sistema. Ma è proprio la ripetizione dei loro atti mortificanti — che culmina con l’accumulo coatto di oggetti inanimati e la stesura di certificati di morte — a renderla indistinguibile dall’arte performativa.

Chris Kerich è un programmatore e artista che vive e lavora a Santa Cruz in California. Studia i sistemi — e la loro messa in crisi —, l’arte vincolata, l’informazione, i cultural studies e i videogiochi. Dottorando nel programma in Film & Digital Media presso l’University of California a Santa Cruz, Chris ha ottenuto un Master of Arts presso il Massachusetts Institute of Technology di Boston nel 2017 e una Laurea di Primo Livello presso l’Università Carnegie Mellon nel 2013. Le sue opere sono state presentate a livello internazionale. Ha partecipato a numerose rassegne di digital art, tra cui il MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL (2019) e Vector Festival (2018) di Toronto, in Canada.

NEWS: ON THE RED EYE WITH LUCA MIRANDA, RICCARDO RETEZ, AND JEAN BAUDRILLARD

In Luca Miranda and Riccardo Retez’ America (HD Remastered), French philosopher Jean Baudrillard returns to life as a zombie hologram. His simulacrum is on a red eye to an hyper-real Los Angeles. Part of THE CLASSICAL ELEMENTS, a series of five special screenings at this year’s festival, America (HD Remastered) is a remix/remake/reenactment/adaptation of Baudrillard’s fascinating travelogue of the same title (almost). The only machinima created with Microsoft Flight Simulator in this year’s line-up, America (HD Remastered) pushes the boundaries of the medium.

In this video interview (in Italian without subtitles), Luca Miranda and Riccardo Retez - who are also part of the curatorial team - discuss their work. Both Miranda and Luca graduated from IULM University. Miranda’s Cheatimerism was featured in 2020 as part of VRAL, while The Bowl (La Jatte) and Alma were screening at the 2020 and 2019 MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL respectively.

Luca Miranda’s practice focuses on the relationship between reality and simulation. He is especially interested in the notion of the avatar as an aesthetic entity and its representational features. In his work, Miranda critically scrutinizes game mechanics and notions such as immersion, identification, and interpassivity. His work deals with the image of the avatar in contemporary culture. Miranda received a Master of Arts in TV, Cinema and New Media at IULM University, Milan, and previously a B.A. in Media and Art from the University of Bologna.

Riccardo Retez is a PhD.D candidate in the Visual and Media Studies program at IULM University, Milan, Italy. He is also a digital content creator specializing in contemporary visual culture including cultural studies and game studies. He is the author of Machinima Vernacolare (Concrete Press, 2020), the first academic study of Grand Theft Auto V’ video editing software Rockstar Editor. He is currently researching live streaming culture.

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In America (HD Remastered) di Luca Miranda e Riccardo Retez, Jean Baudrillard rivive come un ologramma zombie. Il suo simulacro è in volo su una Los Angeles iper-reale. Parte di THE CLASSICAL ELEMENTS, una serie di cinque proiezioni speciali, America (HD Remastered) è un remix/remake/rievocazione/adattamento dell’affascinante diario di viaggio del filosofo francese pubblicato negli anni Ottanta. Unico machinima creato con Microsoft Flight Simulator nella rassegna di quest’anno, America (HD Remastered) ridefinisce la natura stessa e il potenziale espressivo del machinima. In questa video intervista, Luca Miranda e Riccardo Retez — che fanno anche parte del team curatoriale — discutono la loro collaborazione e prassi artistica. Miranda che Luca si sono entrambi laureati presso l'Università IULM. L’opera Cheatimerism di Miranda è stata presentata nel 2020 nell’ambito di VRAL, mentre — un altro remake sui generis — The Bowl (La Jatte) e Alma sono stati proiettati rispettivamente al MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL 2020 e 2019.

La ricerca artistica di Luca Miranda si concentra sulla relazione tra realtà e simulazione, l’avatar come entità estetica e le correlate dimensioni testuali e visive. Centrale, nella sua pratica, è l’analisi delle meccaniche videoludiche, insieme alla riflessione critica sui concetti di immersione, identificazione ed interpassività. Investiga la figura dell’avatar nella cultura contemporanea. Ha conseguito una Laurea Magistrale in Televisione, Cinema e New Media presso l’Università IULM di Milano e una Laurea Triennale al D.A.M.S. dell’Università di Bologna.

Riccardo Retez è un dottorando in Visual e Media Studies presso l’Università IULM di Milano. Creatore di contenuti digitali che investigano la cultura visiva contemporanea, Retez si interessa di cultural studies e di game studies. È l’autore di Machinima vernacolare (Concrete Press, 2020), il primo studio accademico del Rockstar Editor, un software di montaggio presente in Grand Theft Auto V. Studia le culture del live streaming online.

NEWS: CADE MIRABITUR ON MAKING MACHINIMA DURING A LOCKDOWN

This year, the MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL is presenting Cade Mirabitur’s The Long Fall in its special screening series The Classical Elements: in this short machinima, bodies and objects chaotically collide in a small house as it plummets down a deep hole. The sudden implosion of domesticity evoke the state of uncertainty and meaningless of the world we live in: randomness is the universe’s quintessence, the fifth element. Created using Valve’s popular Garry’s Mod (2004) during the first COVID-19 lockdown (very much like Xue Youge and Yu Hu’s La Caduta - The Fall), The Long Fall was originally screened at Slamdance 2021. Mirabitur is twenty year old American filmmaker from Detroit, Michigan. He mainly experiments with filmmaking techniques and technology that limit cinematic creation to only its essentials, yielding a bare and unique final product. Recurring themes in his films include time, death, technology, and decay. He directed several short films including Soap (2020), The Answer (2019), and Yellowcake (2019).

We asked Cade a few questions via email:

MMF: Why did you choose Garry's Mod to create The Long Fall? Did you consider other game engines or video games, e.g. The Sims or Grand Theft Auto? What's your relationship to digital gaming

Cade Mirabitur: The Long Fall was created somehow impulsively. It was conceived, originally, as a student project, and went through multiple revisions before taking its final form. One major aspect to why I decided to work in Garry’s Mod was because I was stuck in my home during the pandemic, and lacked any sort of filmmaking equipment. I only had my laptop. That sparked the idea of using a game engine. I toyed around with using Grand Theft Auto V, attracted to its superb graphics and physics engine, but ultimately chose to go with Garry's Mod. Despite being nearly a decade older than Grand Theft Auto, Garry’s Mod had a loose, expressive quality to it that couldn’t be replicated anywhere else. Immediately I was reminded of the machinima filmmakers I was a fan of as a child, mainly DasBoSchitt and kitty0706. I decided to take the playful, spastic energy of the machinima films of the past, and try to apply them to something a bit more personal. I’m a big video game fan, so it was very interesting trying to make a film using one.

MMF: As a first attempt at machinima, The Long Fall is a remarkable achievement. You've made several shorts before. How would you compare the pros and cons in filming with a game engine vs. filming IRL? How long did the production process take? Did you encounter any specific challenges?

Cade Mirabitur: Yes, it was. Filming in Garry’s Mod is almost nothing like filming in real life. I was completely inexperienced with the filmmaking tools provided in the game. Almost everything you see on screen derived from a challenge. I had no idea what I was doing! All I knew was that I was frustrated, lost, and going crazy locked in my house. With every revision, I gradually learned how to animate, but I still felt like I lacked the ability to express how I was feeling. After the third or fourth revision, I was ready to call it quits. Then, I attached a camera to the inside of a train car model, placed a ragdoll inside, and dropped it down a hole. It blew up in my face. From the chaotic visuals to the roaring sound, I could barely tell what was going on, and I loved it. From then on, I spend about a week just recording experiments of me dropping anything and everything down the hole.

MMF: The Long Fall is a great metaphor for the Covid-19 crisis: suddenly our world was turned upside down and the entire world was sort of stuck in limbo, suspended mid-air, waiting for something to happen, a resolution, some kind of closure... If you were to make a machinima today, one year after the first lockdown, would you change anything? Are we still stuck in limbo, or do you personally see the light at the end of the tunnel?

Cade Mirabitur: It’s tough to say. I want to be positive and say I see the light at the end of the tunnel, but I still have my doubts. Things in America feel worse than ever, but I think we’re past the sudden instability we experienced at the beginning of the pandemic. I wouldn’t say were still in limbo. We’ve landed at the bottom of the hole, and right now we’re learning how to adjust to the darkness. Maybe one day, we will find the strength to pull ourselves back up to the surface, or maybe we’ll find comfort in a permanent residence down here. Needless to say, it's a slow process, and it’s going to feel strange for a long time.

MMF: Will you make more machinima in the future or do you consider The Long Fall a standalone project, an experiment, a one of a kind cinematic experience ? What did your schoolmates and teachers at the College for Creative Studies think about your work? And how was the short received at Slamdance?

Cade Mirabitur: Maybe. I'm still very new to the process, but I’d love to extend my machinima skills in the future. That being said, I don’t think I’ll ever try to recreate The Long Fall. It was a spontaneous project that stemmed from feelings that have long since faded. However, since it was so well-received, I would love to try to create something in the same vein, either through Garry’s Mod or another game. I was given a lot of positive feedback. Almost everyone found it to be chaotic and heavy on the senses. Since there’s no dialogue or story, the only thing you’re left to attach to is the flailing bodies and raging sound, which if you aren’t prepared for, can be extremely overwhelming. I wish I could’ve seen a live audience reaction at Slamdance!

NEWS: INTRODUCING THE FIFTH ELEMENT

The MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL is proud to present Cade Mirabitur’s The Long Fall in its special screening series The Classical Elements: in this short machinima, bodies and objects chaotically collide in a small house as it plummets down a deep hole. The sudden implosion of domesticity evoke the state of uncertainty and meaningless of the world we live in: randomness is the universe’s quintessence, the fifth element. Created using Valve’s popular Garry’s Mod (2004) during the first COVID-19 lockdown, The Long Fall was originally screened at Slamdance 2021.

Cade Mirabitur is twenty year old American filmmaker from Detroit, Michigan. He mainly experiments with filmmaking techniques and technology that limit cinematic creation to only its essentials, yielding a bare and unique final product. Recurring themes in his films include time, death, technology, and decay. He directed several short films including Soap (2020), The Answer (2019), and Yellowcake (2019).

Click here to watch the movie

Il MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL è orgoglioso di presentare The Long Fall di Cade Mirabitur nella serie di proiezioni speciali The Classical Elements: in questo breve machinima corpi e oggetti si scontrano caoticamente in una piccola abitazione mentre precipita in un buco profondo. L'improvvisa implosione della domesticità evoca lo stato di incertezza e insignificante del mondo in cui viviamo: la casualità permea lo spazio, è la quintessenza dell’universo, il quinto elemento. Creato utilizzando il popolare Garry’s Mod (Valve, 2004) durante il primo blocco del COVID-19, The Long Fall fa parte della selezione ufficiale di Slamdance 2021.

Cade Mirabitur è un regista americano ventenne di Detroit, Michigan. Sperimenta principalmente con tecniche e tecnologie di produzione cinematografica che limitano la creazione cinematografica solo ai suoi elementi essenziali, ottenendo un prodotto finale spoglio e unico. I temi ricorrenti nei suoi film includono il tempo, la morte, la tecnologia e il decadimento. Ha diretto numerosi cortometraggi, tra cui Soap (2020), The Answer (2019) e Yellowcake (2019).

Il machinima è disponibile qui.

NEWS: KAMILIA KARD ON CROSSING INVISIBLE BOUNDARIES

The MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL is proud to present Kamilia Kard’s 30 minute performance Walking Against, Walking Through in machinima form. Part of THE CLASSICAL ELEMENTS special screening series, Kard’ performance was made with/in indie game Journey (Thatgamecompany, 2012). In the original game, the player takes the role of a robed figure in a desert, traveling towards a mountain looming in the distance but it often encounters invisible borders that cannot be crossed. Any attempts to cross the invisible line are doomed to fail. The border is intangible, like air or, rather, simulated wind: when players try to cross the last dune, they are pushed back automatically.

As the artist writes,

No matter how vast it may seem, the desert is still a prison. I climb a dune and walk along its edge, repeatedly trying to climb over it, to find a hole along this impalpable fence. This endurance performance, prompted by hope yet inevitably voted to failure, give the viewer and I the chance to think about the current state of confinement and, more broadly, about the growing number of invisible borders limiting our personal freedom in a globalized, hyper-connected, and apparently borderless society: the soft control of the media, the biopolitical invasion of our private space, the terms and conditions overseeing online public space, the gender and racial bias still regulating our society and preventing women access to a given space or status.

For Kard, playing Journey acquired new meanings in the times of quarantine and confinement.

Watch the artist discuss her project:

Kamilia Kard is an artist and a researcher born in Milan. After earning a degree in Political Economy at the Bocconi University of Milan, she turned to art and received a BA in Painting and an MA in Net Art both from the Academy of Fine Arts of Brera in Milan. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate in Digital Humanities at the University of Genova. She teaches Multimedia Communication at the Brera's Academy and the Academy of Carrara. Her research explores how hyper-connectivity and new forms of online communication modified and influenced the perception of the human body, gestures, feelings, and emotions. Her work has been exhibited internationally, including Galerie Odile Ouizeman, Paris, Dimora Artica, Milan, Metronom, Modena, Victoria & Albert Museum, London, EP7, Paris, IMAL, Brussels, Fotomuseum, Winterthur, Switzerland, La Triennale di Milano, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Sao Paulo, Brazil, La Quadriennale of Roma at Palazzo Delle Esposizioni, Hypersalon, Miami and Museum del Novecento, Milan. She edited Alpha Plus. An Anthology of Digital Art (Editorial Vortex 2017). She was a speaker at the Machine Feeling conference (Transmediale and Cambridge University), a series of panels focused on AI, machine learning, and the new forms of social and cultural language they spawned. She was Visiting Fellow at Paris Sciences et Lettres EnsadLab in the research group of François Garnier Spatial Media, focusing on the themes of cognition and agency within VR environments.

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Il MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL è orgoglioso di presentare la performance in-game di Kamilia Kard Walking Against, Walking Through documentata sotto forma di machinima nell’ambito delle proiezioni speciali THE CLASSICAL ELEMENTS . Kard ha utilizzato il videogioco indie Journey (Thatgamecompany, 2012), nel quale l’utente assume il ruolo di una figura avvolta da una tunica nel deserto in cammino verso una montagna che si staglia all’orizzonte. Dopo aver raggiunto la montagna, l’artista ha fatto ritorno al deserto per testarne l'illusoria infinità, concludendo che i progettisti non hanno creato un confine visibile, riconoscibile, “solido” per marcare i bordi del territorio, come l’abisso invalicabile dei videogiochi del passato o come il fondale dipinto nel set di The Truman Show: qui, il confine è invisibile, poroso eppure insuperabile.

Come ha dichiarato Kard:

Per quanto vasto possa sembrare, il deserto resta comunque una prigione. Salgo una duna e cammino lungo il bordo, tentando ripetutamente di scavalcarla, di trovare una fessura lungo questo recinto impalpabile. Questa performance di resistenza, motivata da un senso di speranza, ma inevitabilmente votata al fallimento, sollecita una riflessione sulla condizione di reclusione e, più in generale, sul numero crescente di confini invisibili che limitano la nostra libertà personale in un società globalizzata, iperconnessa, apparentemente senza confini: il soft control dei media, l’invasione biopolitica del nostro spazio privato, i termini e le condizioni che sovrintendono allo spazio pubblico online, il genere e i pregiudizi razziali dominanti che impediscono alle donne l’accesso a determinati spazi e status.

Per l’artista, giocare a Journey ha acquisito un nuovo significato nell’era dell’isolamento e della reclusione pandemica.

In questa intervista Kard discute la sua opera:

Kamilia Kard è un’artista e docente nata a Milano. Dopo aver conseguito una laurea in Economia Politica, passa a studi artistici ottenendo un diploma triennale in Pittura e una laurea specialistica in Cinema e Video, Net Art all’Accademia di Belle Arti di Brera di Milano. Attualmente è dottoranda in Digital Humanities all’Università degli Studi di Genova. Insegna Comunicazione Multimediale all’Accademia di Brera e Modellazione Digitale 3D all’Accademia di Carrara. La sua ricerca esplora come l’iperconnettività e le nuove forme di comunicazione online abbiano modificato e influenzato la percezione del corpo umano, della gestualità, dei sentimenti e delle emozioni. Le sue opere sono state presentate a livello internazionale, tra cui Galerie Odile Ouizeman a Parigi, Dimora Artica a Milano, Metronom a Modena, Victoria & Albert Museum a Londra, P7 a Parigi, IMAL a Brussels, Fotomuseum a Winterthur, Svizzera, La Triennale di Milano, il Museo di Contemporary Art, São Paulo, Brasile, La Quadriennale di Roma al Palazzo Delle Esposizioni, Hypersalon, a Miami and il Museo del Novecento, Milano. Ha curato Alpha Plus. An Anthology of Digital Art (Editorial Vortex 2017). Ha partecipato come relatrice alla conferenza Machine Feeling (Transmediale e Cambridge University), una serie di panel focalizzati sul tema dell’intelligenza artificiale, del machine learning e delle nuove forme di linguaggio sociale e culturale da loro derivanti. È stata Visiting Fellow a Paris Sciences et Lettres EnsadLab nel gruppo di ricerca di François Garnier Spatial Media, focalizzandosi sui temi della cognitività e agentività all’interno degli ambienti VR.

NEWS: VRAL #19_COLL.EO (FEBRUARY 12 - FEBRUARY 25 2021)

REASONABLE_3

digital video (1920 x 1080), sound, color, 3’ 33”, 2020 (United States/Italy)

Created by COLL.EO

Fiery. Flaming. Heated. In flames. Sizzling. Gleaming. Alight. Ignited. Automobile. Car. Wagon. Truck. Van. Law Enforcement. Siren. Horn. Warning. Brawl. Storm. Disturbance. Turbulence. Turmoil. Uproar. Commotion. Emergency. Scene. Shots. Scream. Screech. Howl. Wail.

COLL.EO is a collaboration between Colleen Flaherty and Matteo Bittanti established in 2012 which operates in San Francisco and Milan. COLL.EO creates boldly unoriginal media artworks, uncreative mobile sculptures, and uniquely derivative conceptual pieces. With the use of appropriated materials borrowed from a day-to-day context, COLL.EO has developed a filthy rich visual vocabulary addressing artistic, social, and political issues. COLL.EO generates situations in which everyday objects - often toys and games - are altered or detached from their original contexts. Sometimes they appear idiosyncratic and quirky, at other times sinister and morbid, like most by-products of American superabundance and pervasive marketing.

WATCH NOW

EVENT: VRAL #13_LUCA MIRANDA (NOVEMBER 13 - NOVEMBER 26 2020)

CHEATIMERISM

Digital video (1920 x 1080), color, sound, 14’ 55’’, 2020 (Italy)

Created by Luca Miranda

Introduced by Matteo Bittanti

By reconfiguring the spaces of Grand Theft Auto V, Cheatimerism investigates the political and economic implications of consumption and its side effects, including concrete waste, virtual surrogacy, and planned obsolescence. This machinima shows various sculptural forms made of identical vehicles, the Rapid GT, a sports car, and a waste collection truck, the Trashmaster. Capitalism, the artist seems to suggest, is the ultimate cheat mode.

Luca Miranda’s practice focuses on the relationship between reality and simulation. He is especially interested in the aesthetic potential of the avatar. In his work, Miranda critically investigates game mechanics and concepts such as immersion, identification, and interpassivity. Miranda received a B.A. in Media and Art from the University of Bologna and in 2019 received a M.A. in TV, Cinema and New Media at IULM University. In 2018, he co-founded Eremo, an artistic collective based in Milan. He is currently working on book about walking simulators.

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Media coverage: Matteo Lupetti, ArtTribune (in Italian)