[spectre] Project Features|| March'05 featuring Mary Flanagan

[features03]

"Project Features"
http://features.nmartproject.net <>
is happy to present during March 2005
its third feature:
--->
Mary Flanagan (USA) 
and her interactive netart piece, entitled:
"[six.circles]" (2004).
.
[six.circles] is a networked one or two player turn based game which
explores the consequences of cooperation and competition through the
construction of simple geometry objects. Players interact with the game
by construct groups of shapes which eventually are built up into
complete circles, but they do so amidst attacks by virus objects which
invade the community. In the abstracted space, there are virus objects
and "good juju" pieces that can often cure disease. As the game
progresses, players must attach illness pieces to some shapes every so
many turns, and as players build circles, illness spreads down the
chain, infecting it turn by turn. When all the pieces of a given chain
are infected, the infection changes with each turn to a full-blown
diseased piece that can no longer be assimilated into a circle. If an
entire chain is diseased, it spawns new disease pieces with each turn.
Players have to negotiate and sacrifice to cooperatively solve the
problem, prevent the spread of the disease, while still attempting to
win the game by creating six circles—an idea based on the Six Circles
mathematical theorem. 
 
Balancing off between individual interests (for example, points for
making circles) and group interests (staving off the spread of the
virus) leaves players with an interesting, and politically important,
set of decisions at each turn. In [six.circles], the game rewards take
on an almost 'anti-spectacle' approach; its simplicity sets it apart
from commercial games. By using abstract shapes, the project design
avoided thorny issues of representation, and by creating a two-player
game, the design supports group dynamics. The game emerged from the
process of considering the AIDS crisis from an activist viewpoint for an
AIDS benefit exhibition in December 2004.
.
About the artist:
Mary Flanagan is an inventor-designer-activist in New York City and
leads the tiltfactor research group at Hunter College. Flanagan's
artwork has been shown internationally at venues including the Whitney
Museum of American Art, SIGGRAPH, Ars Electronica, the Guggenheim, and
other international venues. Her essays on digital art and gaming have
appeared in many periodicals and books including Art Journal and Wide
Angle. Her books include Reload: Rethinking Women + Cyberculture (MIT
Press 2002), the co-written book Similitudini. Simboli. Simulacri
(SIMilarities, Symbols, Simulacra) in Italian (Unicopli, 2003), and
reskin (forthcoming, MIT Press). She is the creator of “The Adventures
of Josie True,” the first internet adventure game for girls, and is
co-founder of Rapunsel, a research project to teach girls programming
(<http://www.rapunsel.org>). Her projects have been funded by the National
Science Foundation, the Pacific Cultural Foundation, and the National
Endowment for the Arts. In the 1990s, Flanagan was also a media
producer/game designer, garnering over 20 international awards for
titles produced for The Discovery Channel, Creative Wonders/ABC, and
Knowledge Adventure. She is Associate Professor of Software Art and
Culture at Hunter College, NYC. <http://www.maryflanagan.com>.
*******************************************
"Project Features"
http://features.nmartproject.net <>
which will feature during 2005 each month
another exciting art project
using net based media for artistic expression.
.
The first issue on http://features.nmartproject.net <>
was featuring in January 2005 -->
Doron Golan (USA)
and his streaming video
"Tale of Crow" (2004)
more details on http://features.nmartproject.net <>
 
The 2nd issue was featuring in February 2005---> 
Simon Fildes and Katrina McPherson (UK) 
and their interactive piece, entitled: 
"Ardnamurchan Zillij" 
more details on http://features.nmartproject.net <>
.
*****************************************************
"Project Features"
http://features.nmartproject.net <>
is curated by Agricola de Cologne
.
[NewMediaArtprojectNetwork]:||cologne
www.nmartproject.net <>
experimental platform for New Media art
operating from Cologne/Germany
.
contacts and artists proposals:
info at nmartproject.net <>