Rockstar Editor

ARTICLE: LIBERTY CITY’S EXTERNALITIES

VRAL is currently showcasing Regression 4, Jordy Veenstra’s latest installment in his ongoing monumental investigation of San Andreas. To accompany the screening, we are delighted to present Collateral Damage, an experimental machinima developed with/in Grand Theft Auto IV.

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Jordy Veenstra’s re-edited version of his machinima short Collateral Damage utilizes the open world of Grand Theft Auto IV as a canvas for an experimental narrative that defies expectations. Originally created in 2012 as a more traditional crime story, the 2018 cut runs just 2 minutes but packs a provocative punch. Veenstra transforms the possibilities afforded by Rockstar Games sandbox into an avant-garde work that challenges both artistic and gameplay conventions. Through innovative editing and a focus on psychological tension, Collateral Damage provides a mature reflection on violence and chaos within the criminal underworld.

As a machinima created using assets from Grand Theft Auto IV, Collateral Damage immediately cues certain expectations about the chaotic, crime-ridden nature of Rockstar’s fictional Liberty City. However, Veenstra subverts these themes right from the start. The opening shots follow two men driving through the rainy night time streets not on some criminal escapade, but engaged in muted conversation. One man seems to be confiding in the other about being framed by an acquaintance. Veenstra then cuts to the interior of a nondescript apartment, where the atmosphere grows increasingly tense and surreal between the two men. Extreme close-ups, off-kilter angles, and disjointed editing introduce visual disorientation and psychological friction. Strange flashes fill the screen at key moments, suggesting internal turmoil. Rather than depicting high-octane gameplay action, these oblique sequences focus on building an atmosphere of brooding unease.

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Matteo Bittanti


Works cited

Jordy Veenstra

Collateral Damage

digital video, color, 1’ 58”, 2012/2018, The Netherlands

made with Grand Theft Auto IV, Rockstar Games, 2008

Mods: Rockstar Editor, by Rockstar Games; Simple Trainer by sjaak327

All images and videos © Jordy Veenstra 2022

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ARTICLE: ON “THE PSEUDOSCIENCE OF DIGITAL PHYSICS”

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VRAL is currently exhibiting Mikhail Maksimov’s The New Game is Over.To better contextualize and appreciate his multi-layered oeuvre, we will examine several works by the Russian avant-garde artist. We begin with The Death of Father Men (2018).

The Death of Father Men is a 2018 video work by Mikhail Maksimov inspired by the unsolved mystery surrounding the tragic murder of Orthodox priest and intellectual Alexander Vladimirovich Men also known as Father Men in 1990. The work, which combines video game footage, CGI and real life footage, defies clear labels or easy definitions. Balancing on the threshold between an enigmatic video-game and an avant-garde cinematic experiment, The Death of Father Men is a truly uncanny piece. 

In a fascinating conversation with Vladimir Nadein on Vdrome that touches on Maksimov’s interdisciplinary practice spanning video, gaming, animation and other media to explore ideas of mortality, mysticism, and technology’s relationship to reality, the artist explains — cryptically — that he imitated neural network algorithms to generate speculative simulations of Father Men’s death. Among the most interesting tidbits Maksimov's analogy between means of transportations, such as trains — which figure prominently in this video, as well as in The New Game is Over — and media like video games that can effectively transport someone to another state of being. The former moves bodies, the latter minds. 

Additionally, Maksimov argues that video game worlds can be seen as forms of simulated digital reality governed by software physics and logic. When he talks about”digital physics”, he is likely alluding to the philosophical concept that the universe itself could be some kind of computer simulation, which is the main premise of the so-called simulation hypothesis. By capturing moments within video game environments, Maksimov suggests artists can isolate and manipulate aspects of a physics-based virtual world in creative ways, editing bits of digital existence (“chunks”) into artworks…

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Matteo Bittanti

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