blamberg

Coping

The piece I want to do, is about my father’s death. He died from cancer at the beginning of this year, and I have a project in mind that I think can relay my feelings to people as well as help me work through it. The game is a very personal experience, but hopefully will come across tastefully and not over-bearing.

I want to make a small RPG adventure that is in a way representative of the situation and the feelings.

The game will be made in RPG Maker VX Ace

An example of what it will look like is:

The game play will be a somewhat regular RPG,  but will be story heavy and hopefully less traditional and more experiential, and will follow two characters, a boy and a girl.

The game/piece will consist of 4 acts, and will have 4 different “Bosses” that represent different aspects. I am not sure at the moment what all four will be, but one will definitely be a representation of cancer, and the fight will represent my family’s take on the situation.

The 1st Act will be the journey to adulthood, the 2nd will be dealing with leaving home, and also the beginning of the sickness, the 3rd Act will be the Cancer Boss level, and the final 4th Act will be the after affects and “coping” stage.

The game itself will be quite linear and battles will be relatively scripted. All in all it will be more like a story in the guise of a game more than a free-roam RPG.

NPC’s will be representative of the people in my life.

Enemies will be hardships, or obstacles.

For example:

• Sphinx as enemy would represent tests, or hard classes
• Goblins, Ogres, and brutes will be physical representations of people and feelings that have slowed me down or negatively affected me.
• Some NPC’s can be representatives of Nurses, friends, family that ended support, such as Innkeepers, healers, knights and etc.

The gameworld setting is going to be in a fantasy world, and also in a more present regular days setting with schools, cars, and buildings.
I think that this is a good way to explore how I feel about everything through an interesting and safe environment. Games are a really good way to explore loss, and I am inspired by games like That Dragon Cancer, and Dys4ia. I feel like this is also in a way an appropriation, where I take known mechanics, and maybe even known worlds, and I’m building my own narrative through them, while trying to make the experience accessible to others.  As Schrank talked about in his book Avant-garde Video Games: Playing with Technoculture  where games can be on a wide spectrum and be formal or radical and loaded with “political” feeling. I think my game sits somewhere in between where the story is charged and opinionated but in a formal setting. And also, it maybe is somewhat influenced by Yoko Ono’s work and how she brings the audience into her work and has them became participants, in the sense of her artwork and scores. I think it is also in a way reminiscent of Cynthia Carr’s retelling of an interactive piece where she was just thrown into a day in someone’s life and there was drama with relationships and just a very interesting way to experience being in someone else’s shoes. I want people to know and feel my story, but also play through it in a way that I think is enjoyable.

Feed the Soul

For this project, there were no changes from the first to the final iteration.  This is just a documentation of the project, along with some picture proof, and the artist statement.

So the intervention was to dress up as a “pigeon” and to feed people’s souls. By that I mean to enrich people’s lives, or somehow make them brighter, if for just a moment.  The way I would do this is by dressing up, and then distributing pieces of candy that have nice notes written on them.

This is me in the bird costume (ignore the messy room):

I was going for a simplistic design, and the word  pigeon was written to really get my point across.

This was my feed bag that was filled with candy:

I wrote feed because it reminded me of bird feed bags, but here it’s people feed.

What I gave out were these pieces of candy:

They are starbursts wrapped in notes, which I would hand out notes and handfuls of just starburst.

There were many more notes than pictured here:

Various things from; “You’re awesome”, to “If you were an apple I’d pick you”, “You are unique, never forget that”, and just many more compliments and words of encouragement.

I went to Curry and the library. On the way there I bumped into some people, and the first person I met, I made him take a picture with me, he was confused until I told him it was an art piece:

Then I took selfies in Curry and the library:

I changed my shirt into something warmer,

And then I walked around and interacted with people,

I tried not to anger anyone and wasn’t able to take many photos

At the library on the first floor, there were two kids who wanted to take pictures with me which was awesome:

They asked me what I was doing, and I explained that it was an art piece in a game design class. In return I asked them for their thoughts on the notes, and the candy. They were happy to receive candy, and the kind notes made them smile, which made me really happy, the overall goal of this intervention being the spread of happiness.

I didn’t get to stop and chat with every person I gave candy to. But regardless there were many people who said thank you. I got a lot of looks of confusion, and once people read the notes, they smiled and then kind of went on their way. People who were just walking by either rejected me and didn’t take the candy, or said quick thank you’s and continued on. A group of girls were sharing their notes and laughing about it. All in all, I think this was a two way intervention. I intruded into people’s lives for the moment and hopefully made it brighter for a bit, and at the same time people being happy, made me happy.

For this work I was influenced by several different artists and groups. In some ways I was influenced by Yoko Ono and her performance art. She brought the audience directly into her art, and in a way I did a similar thing, except I brought the art to the audience. Also, I feel what I did could have been a score that came from her book Grapefruit. I also like to think that Keith Haring somewhat influenced me, with the subway drawings he did, which in a way brightened people’s days without being too intrusive. My goal was to add something to people’s lives, be it a smile, a laugh, or even just positive thinking.  Also groups like Improv Everywhere and the Yes Men definitely inspired me with their outlandish idea’s and interventions that really pushed the envelope. There was also a comedian, and I would argue, artist, Remi Gaillard, who did many different stunts that include animal suits and all kinds of antics, and I feel that subliminally I could have been influenced by his work. I think that the culmination of many different interventions led me to want to being joy to others, while doing it in an off-beat maybe funny way.

Feed the Soul

For my intervention project I plan on dressing up as a pigeon (beak, tail feathers, wings, sign that says pigeon). Then I’m going to throw breadcrumbs and little slips of paper and notes that say nice things and compliments at people.

This will be done around campus where people are sitting and unaware.

The idea here is to flip the narrative on people, while also bringing joy to them with kind words.

Final Iteration for Artwork 2

An Arena For High Stakes Chess

Starting Materials:

• Arena board, from the game Krosmaster Arena
• Chess set
• Deck of 52 playing cards

Rules:

Players play rock paper scissors to see who goes first, that winner may choose black or white, it doesn’t matter.

Players then set-up the board;

This is done by first placing down obstacles for the opposing player,

This is done by using the Arena accessories such as trees, crate, and bushes.

The player who lost the rock, paper, scissors game may set down up to 5 pieces(3 trees, 1 bush, 1 crate)  in any spot that he/she wishes first. Then the other player does the same.

Then both players setup the board as they would in regular chess,

The players must stay in the first two rows on their side, but they can as be spread out as they want, there are “12” spots, for 8 pieces per row, so there will be space.

The two kings must be facing each other, and must have a pawn in front of them. (this is to prevent the king from being taken immediately).

The rest is set up in the standard order

Once set up the players can start the game.

Changes to the Chess Rules:

All pieces that had restricted movement can now move an extra space if they wish,

(this is for pawn, king, and knight)   

Pawns can now also start by moving  up to 4 spaces forward on their first move if they so choose to.

If there is an obstacle in the way, the piece can move around it by making adjacent steps around the obstacle.

Knights can choose to move up to the 4 steps they can make, meaning they can move less than 4 steps, but they always have to move at right angles.

Knights can now also jump over crates and bushes.

When capturing an opponent’s piece, the players must play a round of 5 card poker.

This means both players draw 5 cards, and the anti is the 2 pieces that are “fighting” each other. As in 5 card poker, each player can exchange up to 5 cards with the “dealer”. The dealer can be designated through whatever means. The player who does the “attacking” gets to exchange cards first. The player with the better hand,  keeps their piece in the spot, and the losers piece is “taken” or discarded.

Then play continues as normal.

Checks, or checkmates, are played the same way, if the king is being checked, and the player doing the checking has the better hand, then the king is lost, and the other player wins.

The rest of the game is played regularly.

Documentation:

Materials:

The board:

The first player setting up the obstacles on the opposing side:

The second player setting up obstacles:

The pieces are set up:

An example of an attack, white pawn taking black:

After cards are distributed and exchanged the winner is decided:

White has taken the black pawn, and now it is the black sides turn:

These are a few shots of gameplay in class:

Annie making a move

Manning’s turn, taking  time to think it through

5-Card poker, gamble over their pieces

The hands are shown, higher hand wins

Artist Statement:

This piece was inspired by several different artists of the Fluxus movement. The main inspiration is of course Marcel Duchamp, who worked so much with chess, that he eventually became a chess master. The piece he made with Johnny Cage, called Reunion contributed somewhat, as well as Yoko Ono’s White Chess. The Fluxchess sets were different and aspired to make the player feel something new, to create a sense of flux in something that had existed for hundreds of years if not more. For my piece, I wanted to emulate war, and at the same time, the randomness of life. I wanted my chess board to represent a battlefield, a place where soldiers fight each other, often for a pointless cause. I wanted the reality of life, which is represented by the “randomly” placed obstacles, to be present in the game. And I wanted each encounter to be decided by chance and just a hint of strategy, much like the wars that have persisted throughout humanity’s history. This ties in with the larger board, a 12×12 , because of how in real life wars have been fought by large battalions and hundreds of thousands of people have died. A simple 8×8 board is too small to emulate such battlefields. The obstacles that are placed by the opposing player can be seen as “fate” or “luck” and can simulate how our lives are shaped by the obstacles around us. I also quite enjoyed the grassy aesthetic of the board, and think that it is more interesting than a simple grid pattern. My overall goal was to create an aggressive, quick game, that is often decided by chance. This is quite different that Yoko Ono’s White Chess in which the players must be focused and play slow to keep track of who is who.  I think the amalgam of the games that are presented works well and creates a fun piece of art and a fun game.

An Arena for High Stakes Chess (tentative title)

Materials:

• Chess Pieces
• Krosmaster Arena and accessories
• Deck of cards

Rules:

Players play rock paper scissors to see who goes first, that winner may choose black or white, it doesn’t matter.

Players set-up the board;

This is done by first placing down obstacles for the opposing player,

This is done by using the Arena accessories such as trees, crates, and bushes.

The player who lost the rock, paper, scissors may set down up to 4 in any spot that he/she wishes first. Then the other player does the same.

Then both players setup the board as they would in regular chess,

The players must stay in the first two rows on their side, but they can as be spread out as they want, there are “12” spots, for 8 pieces per row, so there will be space.

Once set up the players can start the game.

Changes to the Chess Rules:

All pieces that had restricted movement can now move an extra space if they wish,

(this is for pawn, king, and knight)   

Pawns can now also start by moving 4 spaces forward on their first move if they so choose to.

If there is an obstacle in the way, the piece can move around it by making adjacent steps (not diagonal) around the obstacle.

Knights can jump over crates and bushes.

When capturing an opponent’s piece, the players must play a round of 5 card poker.

This means both players draw 5 cards, and the anti is the 2 pieces that are “fighting” each other. The player with the better hand,  keeps their piece in the spot, and the losers piece is “taken” or discarded.

Checks, or checkmates, are played the same way, if the king is being checked, and the player doing the checking has the better hand, then the king is lost, and the other player wins.

The rest of the game is played regularly.

How to face the world/How to fly

Get a blank sheet of paper

And a wooden #2 pencil

Gently bite off the eraser end

Draw a self portrait without looking at your reflection

Fold the self portrait into a paper airplane

Throw it into the winds

Video below:

Artist Statement:

First off I just want to say, sorry guys that the video is shot vertically, I know it’s a video making sin, but that’s just how I had to do it.

I made a few edits overall to my score. I renamed the title because I wanted the score to mean more. I wanted to show that in a way, when you draw yourself and embrace who you are, without changing or erasing your own image, you get the strength to face the world. And after you do, you have the strength to fly, to be free of anything that can hold you back, like self-doubt, for example. I also changed the order of the wording a bit, do to it making more logical sense to me, to get paper first, then a pencil, then to bite the eraser off.

In the video I didn’t show the portrait because it wasn’t important to see it. The idea of drawing it is more important. Also biting off the eraser is harder than it seems, I had loosened it before filming for ease. Also the last shot is of me, outside throwing the plane, it’s a little hard to see in the dim light.

That’s about all there was to it. The actual demonstration of the score was fun, and in a way, a little bit liberating. After I threw the plane, I left it out in the middle of the street, which kinda made me feel like a piece of me was left there for the world to see. It was an interesting feeling.

How to Fly

Get a #2 Wooden Pencil and a blank sheet of paper

Gently bite off the eraser end

Draw a self portrait without looking at a reflection

Fold the self portrait into a paper airplane

Throw it into the winds