In the new issue of METROPOLIS M magazine, Michael Portnoy talks about his performances, including his infamous 'Soy Bomb' stunt at the 1998 Grammy Awards. This item contains several video's of Portnoy's work to date.
Immersion, the recent work by the German filmmaker and artist Harun Farocki, shows therapists using game technology in the treatment of traumatized soldiers. Shown last summer at SMART Project Space, the film was previously presented in Leuven, together with two earlier works by Farocki. Here, it was clear that Farocki had previously used war as a game with analogue, electronic and digital media, blurring the distinctions between virtual and actual reality.
In 1938, John Huizinga characterized culture as a form of play and described man as a being at play, rather than knowing or working. In today’s media culture, his words seem to have become true. Everything seems more and more to contain play elements, from sports to Facebook, from the battlefield to the personal workplace. Is life really just a game?
Over the next two years, in the Netherlands, the Game Fund will have 2 million at its disposal. This demonstrates the growing importance of the game industry for contemporary society, as well as for the arts.
