uncanny

MMF MMXXIV: TOTAL REFUSAL IS WINNING THE CULTURE WAR

The Milan Machinima Festival is thrilled to introduce Kinderfilm as part of our Auteur Theory program. Join us for a special screening on March 15 2024 at IULM University in the Sala dei 146. Today, we’re happy to share an exclusive clip.

Operating at the intersection of art, politics, and video games, the Austrian artist collective Total Refusal stands out as a groundbreaking force. This self-described “pseudo-Marxist media guerrilla”, comprised of artists, researchers, and filmmakers, has carved a unique niche by appropriating contemporary video games to create political narrations. Their innovative approach to “upcycling” the resources of mainstream video games into videos, interventions, live performances, lectures, and workshops has not only challenged conventional boundaries but also captivated audiences worldwide. In 2023, they even made it into the front page of The New York Times (the best part, as often is the case with the Grey Lady, is the comment section… priceless).

Since its inception in 2018, Total Refusal’s compelling fusion of digital art and political commentary has garnered international acclaim, earning them over 50 awards and honorary mentions. It’s a stunning achievement in such a short span of time. Noteworthy among these are the prestigious European Film Award and the Best Short Direction Award at the Locarno Film Festival, underscoring their significant impact on contemporary film and art.

Total Refusal’s filmography is a testament to their creative versatility and political engagement. Their works, including Kinderfilm (2023), Hardly Working (2022, screened at the Milan Machinima Festival in 2023), Deconstructing the Bridge (2022), How to Disappear (2020, presented at the Milan Machinima Festival 2021), Featherfall (2019, featured on VRAL), and Operation Jane Walk (2018, screened at Sogni Eletrrici in 2019), explore various dimensions of video game worlds while critiquing societal and political norms. The provide a counter-narrative to mainstream discourse.

Total Refusal’s critical acclaim extends to major film festivals around the globe, showcasing their work to diverse audiences. Their recent participations include the Locarno International Film Festival (Switzerland), L’Étrange Festival (France), Black Canvas (Mexico), Montreal Festival du nouveau cinéma (Canada), and Viennale (Austria), among others. Each festival participation not only amplifies their voice but also reinforces the relevance of their work in contemporary discourse on art and politics.

Supported by the Austrian Cultural Forum Bern, their festival journey reflects a growing recognition of video game art as a legitimate and powerful medium for political and social commentary. From the streets of virtual Los Santos in Kinderfilm to the digital landscapes of Operation Jane Walk, Total Refusal redefines the boundaries between the fictional and the concretely lived, inviting viewers to reconsider their perceptions of video games, art, and the world around us.

The collective's most recent work, Kinderfilm, ventures into the spaces of Grand Theft Auto V,capturing a day permeated by mundane routines yet overshadowed by a “grave absence”, that is, a future put on hold due to safety concerns. Through the perspective of its protagonist, Edgar, the film traverses the eerily ordinary reality dictated by the game’s algorithms, unveiling a world that is outwardly enchanting but fundamentally nightmarish. This journey underscores Total Refusal’s knack for distilling deep insights from allegedly neutral digital environments. More poignantly, their critique extends beyond virtual borders, resonating starkly with real-world contexts. Particularly, it mirrors the societal dynamics of countries like Italy, where a declining birthrate, escalating emigration, and a crisis co-opted by the Far Right paint a similarly unsettling picture of suspended futures and challenged normalcies.

As Total Refusal continues to challenge and inspire, their work remains a benchmark for those seeking to navigate the complexities of contemporary digital and political landscapes. Their success at film festivals worldwide is not just a testament to their artistic innovation but also to the vital role of video games in shaping our cultural and political consciousness, not to mention reshaping visual culture as a whole.

Matteo Bittanti

Read more about the 7th edition of the Milan Machinima Festival

MMF MMXXIV: KARA GÜT

We are thrilled to announce that Kara Güt’s unclassifiable video work Lurker1, will be screened at the seventh edition of the Milan Machinima Festival.

The video begins with a statement: “This is an edited version of the last three nights of twitch user Lurker1’s stream made from recordings sent to me by user creep_by_radiohead in late 2019. Both users have since been deactivated. For the full unedited stream, please contact me”. What follows is a documentation of Lurker1 as he practices the any% speedrun of the game Dark Souls III and talks to the sole chat participant creep_by_radiohead.

Kara Güt is an artist living and working in Ohio, specializing in image-based digital media. Her artistic inquiry delves into the contours of human intimacy as shaped by the digital era, exploring themes of constructed detachment from reality and the intricate power dynamics within virtual spaces. Güt’s work has garnered national and international attention, with notable exhibitions at the Hybrid Box in Hellerau European Centre for the Arts, Dresden; Thomas Erben Gallery, New York; and the Singapore Art Museum. She received an MFA from the Cranbrook Academy of Art and she boasts affiliations with institutions such as The Institute for Electronic Arts at Alfred University. Güt’s creative endeavors have also been enriched by residencies at SPACES, Pioneer Works Tech Residency and she has been honored as a 2023 Knight Art + Tech Fellow, marking her a point of reference in the sphere of art, online cultures and technology. Her groundbreaking work Hurt/Comfort was screened at the 2023 edition of the Milan Machinima Festival.

Read more about the 7th edition of the Milan Machinima Festival

ARTICLE: ADRIFT IN THE UNCANNY VALLEY

VRAL is currently exhibiting Aleksandar Radan’s This water giver back no Images. To provide context to this remarkable work, we are discussing the Serbian-German artist’ oeuvre. Today we take a closer look at In Between identities.

With his groundbreaking machinima In between identities (2015) and the subsequent video installation This water gives back no Images (2017), Berlin-based filmmaker Aleksandar Radan established himself in the mid-2010s as a rising talent probing the porous boundaries between concrete and virtual spaces. Appropriating assets from blockbuster games like Grand Theft Auto V, Radan constructs eerie, liminal worlds where meaning frays, and questions of identity become as glitchy as the discordant landscapes he frames.

Originally presented in April 2020 as VRAL #2, In between identities sees Radan hijack GTA V, rewriting portions of code through modding to direct lonely avatars stripped of context, narrative, and purpose. Bereft of missions, these figures wander a murky, humid, deserted city, their awkward movements and apparent disorientation at odds with the usual bombastic pace of the “conventional” gameplay. Dressed incongruously in bathing suits or fur coats, slicing cucumbers over their eyes, the mute characters perform uncanny rituals before mirrors and displays. Repeated motifs like photographs and screens highlight themes of fragmented selfhood and surveillance. Radan’s fixed camera angles hold uncomfortably long on incidents of mundane absurdity as his non-player characters break scripted behaviors. Static shots are interrupted by the camera’s jerky movements as the artist is filming the computer monitor where the action is unfolding, zooming in and out abruptly, rather than recording the game footage via a dedicated card. The removal of soundtracks enhances the sensation of drifting outside reality.

This early experiment crystallized Radan’s impulse to short-circuit gaming conventions via artistic intervention…

(continues)

Matteo Bittanti

Works cited

Aleksandar Radan

In between identities, digital video, color, sound, 8’ 50”, 2015, Germany

This water gives back no Images, 3-channel video installation, 6’ 12”, loop, 2017, Germany; presented on VRAL as a single-channel digital video

All images courtesy of the Artist

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