Video Games as Art Part 2: REZ

Rez is a game that was initially released for the Playstation 2 and Dreamcast consoles, and re-released for Xbox360 and Playstation 3. It's a game in which the user is a computer hacker trying to stop a self-aware machine network from shutting down itself. Rez also revolves around the concept of synesthesia. To explain it simply, this game actually has music that change based on the way the user plays the game. For instance, there is a rhythmic beat that plays every time the user "shoots" at an evil program or virus. Every time the user progresses a stage within the level, the music changes slightly. Also, as the player levels up, their weapon changes slightly. All of these combine together in order to make an artistic experience for the person playing the game.

The art in this game is partially generative, since it is created and changes as the user progresses throughout the game. By another point of view, this art could be considered algorithmic, since it changes based on the way the player actually interacts with the game (meaning it will be different for each play through). All in all, Rez is a new age artistic experience that further explains how exactly a game can be considered a piece of art.

Wonderful World of Color

The World of Color presentation is a show at the Disney theme park California Adventure. It captivates the viewers by utilizing hundreds of fountains, lights, projectors, and misters to create a montage of Disney characters singing and performing. This is art on its own accord purely through the myriad of lights and sounds being displayed to the viewers. Additionally, this is art that could not be performed WITHOUT the use of technology due in large part to the fact that it is displaying images on water particles in the air (which is impressive to say the least).

As you can see from the video, this half an hour presentation is also an experience for the user. Whether you're someone who grew up watching all of the mentioned Disney movies and shows, or you're a parent who showed them to your kids, you can connect with everything being shown on this wall of water. This nostalgic feeling helps to drive home the overall meaning of this art piece, which is meant to make the viewer overcome with emotions.

Video Games as Art Part 1: Bioshock

First and foremost, I am a true believer that video games should be considered pieces of art. They often involve intricate plots, character development, and all of the key items that movies, books, and plays contain that define them as artistic pieces. In addition, it envelops the player in ways that a book or movie just can not compare with. By giving someone direct control over the means to accomplish a task that affects the ending outcome makes them feel like they are personally involved with the story. It is due to this fact that video games allow the memories that the player creates about the scenario to feel like they were the ones taking part in it, not just remember the story about the characters.

One game comes to mind in particular that not only captures the conceptually artistic side of video games, but the physical side as well. That game is Bioshock.

Created by the brilliant minds over at Irrational Games, Bioshock takes place in the 1960s in an underground society that was built to become an isolated utopia. The protagonist, someone the player simply knows as Jack, has crash landed on a plane nearby this utopia, entitled as Rapture, where he slowly find out that the occupants have become crazed over a substance known as Adam.

The game progresses on to take some staggering plot twists. Additionally, the player sees more and more distorted and gruesome things the longer he stays inside of Rapture.

This game also has a visually artistic side. The theme fits perfectly with the 1960s era that Bioshock falls within. Here are a couple of pictures that show the visuals present within the game:

This first picture is from an early scene in the game where we first meet the creator of Rapture

The next picture is a screenshot from a haunting moment during the story when the player comes to the realization that they have not had their own free will for some time. The phrase scrawled on the walls in blood has followed them throughout the entirety of their gameplay experience.


This last picture is a screenshot of the terrifying combatant found all over Rapture known as a Big Daddy. Here, the player is engaged in combat with the Big Daddy.

Through painstaking attention to detail and a well designed story, Bioshock embodies an artistic video game when it come to plot.

Music Video as Generative Art

http://donottouch.org/

The website begins by playing a song. Immediately, you notice at least a hundred additional cursors on the screen. The site tells you to follow their instructions and that they're recording your cursor movements. You don't realize it immediately, but you're becoming a part of their generative art piece.

The band, Light Light, performs the song Kilo in the background for this artistic music video. As the band plays along, you continue to perform these simple tasks with your mouse. These include answering questions about gender, sexual preference, location, and vacation locations. They also rely on the users to create various shapes around the people within the music video.

This combination of music and visualization creates an astonishingly artistic piece of generative art experience for the user. As well as changing based on the input of hundred of other people, the art piece allows the user to interact with it on a personal level, while still remaining completely anonymous.

Systemic Abstractors Versus the Pubic Realists

http://donrelyea.com/pubic_hair_systemic_abstractors.htm

The artist, Don Relyea, has come upon the dilemma of digital media being too perfect looking. Don feels that not seeing the imperfection that arises from human error takes away from the overall quality of the artistic piece. As such, Don is looking for a way to reintroduce some error into algorithmic and generative art that will make the art look similar to hand drawn art.

To do this, the artist starts by using a hair technique to create the image. When generating the art, he has the program use curly "pubic" hair lines to draw the pictures. This results in an image that looks "fuzzy", like the one below:

While this does take away from some of the perfection brought about by digital image creation, it still doesn't quite capture the essence of an artist making mistakes and attempting to correct them. Don expands the imperfection principle by adding a rule to his algorithm that if an area gets too dark from the amount of "hairs" drawn, reduce it by trying to "erase" the area and make the area a shade of lighter grey. By doing this, Don hopes to simulate an artist erasing their mistakes. Here is an example:

In the end, the product seems to be a distorted version of the original product. It does bear some resemblance to an image that has been erased, but it seems to have disrupted the image so much that it has lost the overall idea of the original image.

All in all, I see why Don wanted to alter the digital art in order to make it seem hand drawn. However, I feel as though it has actually taken away from the piece by making it seem too unrealistic. Even if an artist did make mistakes when drawing these images, the margin of error would not be this large. While this may have been the purpose of the artist, I believe that they should have reduced the threshold of the "erasing" in order to keep some of the structural integrity of the image.