Eddo Stern at AGO – N. Post June 19/04 is an article on the show currently on at the Art Gallery of Ontario on recent work by Eddo Stern. Stern’s work, like Fort Paladin: America’s Army, 2003, combines modified computers and projections from computer games. Fort Paladin has a castle built around a screen and tower system unit. There is a keyboard with actuators controlled by another computer typing away beneath the screen (or castle gateway) showing a violent first person shooter (is the game projected controlled by the keyboard?) To quote from the pamphlet in the exhibit room,
Keywords: Tolkien, Christ, Your Empire and Your Desktop
Fort Paladin is a medieval computer castle automaton trained to kill and master the US Army’s inforamous recruitment/training game, America’s Army, using electro-mechanics and a custom-written expert system.
The interesting thing about Stern’s work is that they combine sculpture of the case with software controlling a video experience. At the end of the day, the sculptural part is more interesting in principle (he is tapping into the culture of computer-case modification) than effective, as his case mods are less visually interesting than those in your average store. The software/video art is more effective, though it borders on propaganda. These works will, in time, look like political cartoons or caricatures, though right now (in the middle of another Iraq war) they are a welcome.
I found Catherine Osbourne’s piece on the art blog of sally mckay.