customization

ARTICLE: THE DISTANCE BETWEEN MY BED AND MY PC

VRAL is currently showcasing Filip Kostic’s 2019 game video Filip Kostic VS. Filip Kostic in a brand new format. Today, we conclude our exploration of the Serbian artist’s oeuvre with a closer look at his monumental project(s) Bed PC.

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Filip Kostic’s bed-centric projects, including Bed PC (2020), Bed PC 2 (2022), and Bed PC (Twin) (2022), examine the convergence of art, life, work and leisure in the context of the 2019/2020 pandemic lockdown.

Bed PC (2020) functioned as both a bed and a workspace in Kostic’s bedroom from 2020 to 2022. This work seamlessly blended art with everyday life, reflecting the artist’s “deep adaptation” to the pandemic’s new reality, not to mention its lingering effects. The follow-up, Bed PC 2 (2022), was designed for Scherben Gallery in Berlin. This transition marked a shift from a personal, functional piece to a public exhibit. It encapsulates Kostic’s evolution from a personal experiment to a broader exploration of art and technology before an audience. Similarly, Bed PC (Twin) (2022) made its debut at Hunter Shaw Fine Art in Los Angeles, expanding the scope and goal of the project. The term “twin” hints at the potential for parallel experiences, suggesting a deeper contemplation of the symbiosis between art, life, and work, but also about the possibility of sharing such experiences with others, both remotely and in situ.

Central to all these works is a custom-built water-cooled computer seamlessly integrated into the bed’s frame. Multiple screens form a protective cocoon, immersing the occupant in a multisensory environment. The installation includes peripherals like a keyboard, mouse, streaming microphone, and cameras for live streaming. It is ironic that Kostic’s attempt to reduce physical clutter to increase ‘efficiency’ relies on much “heavy equipment”.

Kostic’s experimentation reached a pinnacle with the Bed PC 24 Hour Stream (2021), an endurance performance where he continuously live-streamed on Twitch for a full day. During this marathon stream, he engaged in various activities, from gaming to art creation and insightful conversations with friends who called in. Topics ranged from art and gaming to the dynamics of motion versus sedentary lifestyles, the future of art and its institutions, and the cultural significance of Yugoslavian monuments. Among other things, he watched Adam Curtis’s documentary The Century of the Self (2002), reviewed some political ads, and slept, always on camera.

Among the key themes of this monumental series of artworks, at least four stand out…

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Matteo Bittanti


Works cited

Filip Kostic

Bed PC 

Custom built water cooled computer built into the frame of the bed. Variable screens to create a shield like shape, blanket, and pillows. Variable peripherals including keyboard, mouse, streaming microphone, and cameras for live streaming, 2020-2022.

All images and videos courtesy of the Artist

This is a Patreon exclusive content. For full access consider joining our growing community.

ARTICLE: FREE WILL IN THE AGE OF AI

VRAL is currently showcasing Filip Kostic’s 2019 game video Filip Kostic VS. Filip Kostic in a brand new format. Today, we discuss Open Loop (2017), which explores the concept of agency and determinism through the use of an AI character trapped in a repetitive cycle.

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Open Loop is a massive, real time installation by Filip Kostic which examines the notion of agency and determinism through the use of an AI character stuck in a repetitive - and ultimately nihilistic - sequence. Here, the AI character’s actions and behaviors unfold in real-time, mirroring the interactivity found in video games and digital environments. The original installation at Roger’s Office gallery in Los Angeles utilized eight monitors in order to create an immersive and engaging visual experience for viewers, evoking the “man cave” milieu of hard core gamers. The custom-built computer functioned as the central nervous system of the installation. This was not just any computer: it was meticulously designed and crafted to meet the high computational requirements of the AI simulation. It sported neon lights, a hallmark of gaming PCs, serving both functional and aesthetic purposes. In Open Loop, the neon lights symbolize the intersection of art and technology, blurring the boundaries between gaming and artistic expression. The gaming PC also has a transparent cabinet,  allowing users – in this case, Kostic – to showcase the internal components, e.g., powerful GPUs. In an upcoming article, we will discuss Kostic’s fascination for the custom built pc as a modern day sculpture. In the context of the installation, these transparent cabinets invited viewers to contemplate the inner workings of the AI simulation and the technology that drives it.

As previously mentioned, Open Loop investigates the role of agency within AI systems. In this context, agency refers to the ability of an AI program or ”agent“, to make decisions based on its programming or training data. However, in Open Loop, the AI ”character“ lacks agency, as it is trapped in a predetermined, repetitive cycle of actions, unable to exercise free will. In this context, these actions or behaviors involve walking, dying, and respawning, all occurring devoid of any external control. 

Open Loop was originally conceived and developed in 2016, at a time when artificial intelligence was on the cusp of gaining cultural prominence and mainstream adoption. Back then, the artist was studying the design of Non-Player Characters (NPCs) in Unreal Engine and became fascinated by the limits of programmed behaviors. In many ways, he was ahead of his times: behavior trees in NPCs can now be seen as viral trends in livestreams and tiktoks where individuals mimic NPC behaviors, like Pinkydoll. His further research led him to explore the concepts of open and closed loop systems…

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Matteo Bittanti


Works cited

Filip Kostic

Open Loop

real-time AI simulation, eight monitors, custom built computer, custom GPU and CPU cooling loops, steel and acrylic structure, installed at Roger’s Office in Los Angeles, California, 2017

All images and videos courtesy of the Artist

This is a Patreon exclusive content. For full access consider joining our growing community.

NEWS: ART IS A GAME NOT EVERYBODY CAN PLAY (LET ALONE WIN)

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VRAL is currently exhibiting Juan Obando’s Pro Revolution Soccer, a modded version of PES celebrating a counter-historical event: a match between Inter Milan and the Zapatista Army of National Liberation soccer team that never took place. Today, we are presenting another example of video game-based art created by hijacking, appropriating, and recontextualizing Konami’s popular soccer game, The Cool Couple’s Emozioni Mondiali (2018-ongoing) through the lens of Sarah Thornton’s notion of subcultural capital. Previous episodes in this series include Miguel Gomes, Marta Azparren, Gweni Llwyd and Owen Davies

Nicolò Benetton and Simone Santilli aka The Cool Couple, are known for their astute artistic interventions which often incorporate video games, as in the case of Flyin’ High (2021), a machinima created with(in) Microsoft Flight Simulator. Emozioni Mondiali (2018-ongoing) skillfully combines the domains of sport, politics, and art. Described as “an expansion kit” for the immensely popular football game Pro Evolution Soccer 2018, the work is an ironic and provocative arena that encourages user, pardon, visitor participation. Specifically, each museum goer is invited to engage in situ with a special edition of Konami’s simulation featuring customized athletes/artists belonging to distinct movements spanning from the Renaissance to the present day. Notably, among these teams are the duo themselves.

Executed with meticulous care and a deep respect for the evoked artists, events, and movements it represents – e.g., the Renaissance, Baroque, Neoclassicism, Romanticism, Impressionism, Futurism 1909, DADA, S.F. Surrealiste, Abstract Expressionism, Fluxus, Pop Art, Conceptual Art 1961, Art Informel, Land Art, Arte Povera, Young British Artists, Dreams and Conflicts – Venice Biennale 2003, Photo-Legends, Post-Internet, Documenta (13) –, Emozioni Mondiali is a mischievous examination of the symbiotic (parasitic?) relationship between art and sport, and vice versa. The work has been exhibited as an interactive installation running the customized iteration of Pro Evolution Soccer 2018, and it is complemented by abstract paintings based on the teams’ jerseys and uniforms patterns.

Emozioni Mondiali is both an exercise in skinning – i.e., the process of altering the visual look of game elements like characters, vehicles, or weapons of a video game without changing their underlying mechanics or gameplay functionality – and extreme customization. As most gamers know, skins are applied as textures, materials, or mesh overlays that give models a new surface look. Creating skins requires graphic design skills and often advanced 3D modeling knowledge to make the assets fit the game’s visual style. Moreover, skinning allows the most skilled players to put their own visual stamp on games in a way that shows off their style, skills, or status in the community and it could be considered an example of what art critic Sarah Thornton calls subcultural capital in her 1995 book Club Cultures, which refers to the social status, knowledge, and cultural competencies that confer prestige within certain subcultures. Subcultural capital can be converted into economic capital: unsurprisingly, the most sought out skin artists often provide their services to other gamers – and artists, why not? – for a price.

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Matteo Bittanti

This is a Patreon exclusive content. For full access consider joining our growing community.