hive_pilot.POV
2021
Video game playing on stationary PC,
painted wood table, office chair,
gamepad, HD moniter, headphones,
self-hardening clay, 3D PLA print,
tablet pen, inkjet on paper
The work was shown at Artist's Autumn Exhibition 2021, Den Frie Centre of Contemporary Art
Whilst sitting in a comfortable swiwel chair, surrounded by a small office setup, you become inaugurated into a strange simulation - a video game asking you to pilot a seemingly biomechanical combat drone with nothing but a off-brand gamepad. A disembodied voice gives you instructions and asks you cryptic questions. The area of operation is not specified, nor are the identities of its inhabitants. You are welcome to leave at any time.
This video game work is based on the recent historical ties between the gaming industry and the military, digitized warfare and the flying insects in which the word "drone" has etymological roots. Inspired by a story about how the US military began replacing the specially designed drone control console with a controller that mimicked the Xbox gamepad; this way it was possible to shorten on a pilots’s training time and provide a sense of familiarity to the task.
Below is a full video capture of the gameplay itself ↓ ↓ ↓
