Interactive multimedia installation
[Las Cigarreras Centro Cultural, 2018 / Kunstmuseum Stuttgart – ITFS ‘18 / Hans & Fritz Contemporary 2017-18 / SWAB Barcelona Art Fair 2017 / Hybrid Fair 2017]
Machine: handmade arcade cabinet designed and built based on original Arcade machine models. Materials: dm wood panels, aluminium, pvc, t-moulding, spray, methacrylate, led panel, 4w loudspeakers, Arcade joystick, Dell monitor. Paintings on side panels: oil on dm wood panels. Door and front panel: laminated adhesive vinyls.
Videogame: Pac-Art is programmed in Unity 3d. Connection from HP computer. Pac-Art is based on the video game Pac-Man (TM & @ 1980 1993 NAMCO LTD)
Dimensions: 175 x 65 x 75 cm (cabinet) / 175 x 190 x 220 cm (installation)
Pac-Art is an interactive installation that shows how the struggle for power governs the relations among the beings of our human species.
On the one hand, the installation shows two oil painted versions of Goya’s Saturn as a current reflection of the tacit cannibalism that interweaves human relations. At the same time, these paintings of Saturn on the side panels of the cabinet retrieve the belief that Goya originally painted Saturn with his penis up – later hidden by El Prado’s conservation department when transferred onto canvas. In this way, Pac-Art refers to the history of art and classical mythology to explain how the greed for power is and has been part of the human essence throughout time.
On the other hand, Pac-Art is a version of the immensely popular Arcade video game Pac-Man. In this case, Pac-Man was transformed into an artist who has to devour famous works of art and flee from ghost-artists who threaten him. Four art pills give Pac-Art the power to devour whatever he finds on his way. The objective of Pac-Art is to eat as many ghost-artists, art pills and works of art as possible to accumulate points that can be registered in a high score. Just as it happens in the real world, the participants enter a competition with themselves and other players becoming participants of the dynamics of an increasingly competitive society.
→ THE VIDEO GAME
→ THE CABINET
→ Related Links:
Las Cigarreras Centro Cultural
International Trickfilm Festival Stuttgart
Hans & Fritz Contemporary
Swab Art Fair Barcelona
Alba Refulgente
→ Press:
La Vanguardia, Las Mil Ferias de Swabby Teresa Sesé
El País, Las Galerías, entre el mercado y la acción socialby Roberta Bosco
Kunscht, International Trickfilm Festival Stuttgart by Denis Scheck
Barcelona Cultura, ‘The Little Match Girl’ il·lumina el Nadal a la Hans&Fritz Contemporary
Tendencias TV, The best of Swab 2017
TV3 – alacarta, Big date with art
Good2b, The 10 highlights of Swab’s 10th edition
NATALIA CARMINATI 