featuring Ken Hollings, Zanele Muholi, Paolo Pedercini, Kay Rosen Vol. I / No. 1 2010 Journal #3 18 Grand Union Crescent London E8 4TR United Kingdom www.journal3.org [email protected] Vol.I / No.1 2010 Editors Josh McNamara Neal MacInnes Hana Tanimura Design Neal MacInnes Hana Tanimura Journal #3 is an independent, quarterly publication. ISSN 2045-2373 The editors would like to thank all of our contributors for being so generous with “Or maybe a horse is ‘just’ a horse.” their time and ideas. Submissions Visit: www.journal3.org/collaborate.html A concession between three editors: 11 Trace & Intent Daniel Staincliffe 17 Interview Paolo Pedercini 25 Welcome to the Labyrinth Ken Hollings 43 A Constructed Coversation Kay Rosen 55 Faces and Phases Zanele Muholi & Projects by Tricia Owlett, Alexa Galea, Julie Dru, Steve McPherson TRACE & INTENT by Daniel Staincliffe This causes us to cut the corners of his most “cost-efficient” route by cutting paths and pavements. Where planned corners.[8] There is beauty in the clash and constructed infrastructure fails of two orders: nothing is controllable to provide the quickest route from A absolutely. Human activity never ceases to B, desire lines may form. These are to prove this rule. “All systems of order, usually the lines of “least resistance.”[4] including nature itself, are affected by Richard Long’s photograph A Line Made entropy,” writes Treib. “All systems decay by Walking (1967) documents the artist’s and move toward stasis.”[9] It is against repeatedly trodden line in a field.[5] It the backdrop of streets and highways is a line with no conventional origin or that the desire line, this trace of human destination; it is the conscious execution inclination, captures our imagination. of an idea; a manifestation of intent. Long found beauty in the lines made by Matthew Tiessen observes that there recurring desire. are at least two different purposes for desire lines: the economical, corner- The routes we take may be trajectories, cutting commuter creates the first journeys, or navigations, but the “desire category: “business,” whilst the second line” implies physical evidence of a path. category is defined by the wanderer, A trodden line in the turf, or a line drawn who concerns himself with “pleasure.”[10] on a map, for example. The erosion of The meandering, zigzagging desire line Trace, © 2010 Daniel Staincliffe turf by regular individual time-cost is formed by travelers who enjoy the analyses creates a physical line that, process of treading new ground. Robert in turn, encourages more traffic along Finch theorises that the desire to explore “Whenever and wherever, human existence constructed to sustain large numbers that route. Indeed, the management points to an “ingrained restlessness” leaves marks upon the land. These marks of people in one place, make up the city. and restoration plans for New York’s in the human race, “a desire simply can be divided into two basic types: trace Infrastructure is integral, definitive, Central Park reveal that desire lines to see what may be there, with no and intent. Trace is a record of man’s and inseparable from the concept of were mapped and recorded in order to specific destination or expectations.” efforts and actions without a conscious the city. City is infrastructure, and identify the most useful pathways. Some Pleasure desire lines may be a conscious awareness of their imprint. This category infrastructure’s omnipresence “leaves desire lines were officially sanctioned in resistance to the omnipresence of urban includes such phenomena as dirt, grease us largely unaware of the mechanisms circulation field studies, as if a path were infrastructure. But business desire lines spots, signs of use and wear, or the of social organisation that surround not “legitimate” without recognition refine the routes we transverse and, in [2] trampled grass of a footpath. Intent is and define it.” In our day-to-day lives, from the relevant authorities.[6] doing so, actually improve the rational, the mark of man’s conscious attempt to repeated journeys and commutes economical nature of the planned city. intervene in the environment in some see each of us explore and alter the Rudolf Arnheim’s notion that disorder is way.” —Marc Treib[1] beaten paths we tread. The discovery not “the absence of all order” but rather The use of fences, walls, and planting of an alleyway, park entrance, or “the clash of uncoordinated orders”[7] sometimes force us to avoid the Intent is no better defined than by more convenient bus service allows supports the idea of city planning quickest route and stick to a deviating the development of infrastructure. us to identify the quickest and most clashing with the individual who takes infrastructural course. To force The roads, pavements, drains, sewers, cost-efficient routes to and from our pylons, and buildings that humans have appointments.[3] 12 13 pedestrians to stick to designated footpaths, Central Park developers built large mounds at the edges of paths to obscure views which might cause deviations. Trees were also cut back to optimize views of certain landmarks (such as bridges) further along the routes, encouraging compliance. [11] Whenever and wherever they occur, desire lines are only of significance in the context of the concrete jungles many of us inhabit today. As seen from the perspective of the planning offices of infrastructural power, they constitute the visible evidence of mass intent. Daniel Staincliffe is a Manchester based artist. 14 INTERVIEW with Paolo Pedercini Paolo Pedercini is an artist and game designer exploring the intersection between gaming and politics. He publishes games through his La Molleindustria (www.molleindustria.org) project. This interview was conducted in August 2010. #3: What do you see as characteristic of personal computers (Windows 95 “Radical Gaming” as opposed to more and the PC as multimedia device), “mainstream” or “commercial” gaming? the dominance of 3D games, and the introduction of the CD-ROM. That’s Paolo Pedercini: I never actually when the concentration happened: attempted to define the term but I often small software houses were unable to use it to refer to games that question, keep up with hardware’s exponential rather than reinforce, the dominant growth, or to compete in a market system of value. “Mainstream” games flooded by content-intensive products. appear to “mainstream” players as More memory, more processing power, non-political, or ideologically neutral, more polygons require bigger teams simply because they build their systems and bigger capital investment. The upon our Western, 21st century, game industry became increasingly common sense. Of course expanding similar to the Hollywood studio system your business and maximizing profits is with a few majors dominating the the goal of every business management market, and development teams of game; of course killing a fable-like hundreds of people. caricature of an Arab is the goal of a contemporary war game; of course This mode of production has a profound colonizing and possibly destroying other impact on the quality of content. Big civilizations is the goal of a strategy investments are a deterrent to creativity Everyday the Same Dream, Paolo Pedercini, music © Jesse Stiles game. A “radical” game is not only a and innovation, not to mention to game with a radical message, but a potentially subversive messages. Majors particularly successful shooter called #3: In your interactive video piece, cultural artifact that indirectly points tend to favor marketing-driven titles, Postal 2 was a vehement satire of North- Every Day the Same Dream, or in your to and criticizes the assumptions that sequels, cross-media licenses—and American bigotry. GTA: San Andreas interactive text-based piece Ergon Logos, inform mainstream games. they are more prone to bow to hardware presents a complex representation of the notion of traditional progress is manufacturers and their cycles of a city torn by inequalities and racial emphasized to the point of absurdity, #3: Do you feel there is a clear historical planned obsolescence. tensions; despite its over-the-top eventually breaking down completely. trajectory to how electronic gaming has gangsta-rap tone, it addressed quite How much of radical gaming is based on become so entrenched in mainstream #3: Can you think of any commercial effectively class and privilege, issues first acknowledging the inherent rules in entertainment? Was there a distinct games from the last ten years or so that are almost taboo in other forms a given system, then allowing for breaks shift in how games were conceived, that managed to carry a subversive of entertainment. The more recent where resistance becomes possible? played or designed when it was absorbed message into this “major-dominated” Flower by thatgamecompany (TGC) is a from the margins? entertainment market? beautiful, poetic hymn to social change. PP: I think the practice of culture Even if it doesn’t directly address issues jamming (or subvertising)* can be PP: The history of electronic games is PP: Subversive is a big word. Many of energy and sustainability, it conveys a applied to games. Games, probably more full of ups and downs, crises and re- games borrow from the post-apocalyptic sense of urgency and portrays the kind than other forms of expression, births. But I believe the most relevant sci-fi tradition, and therefore have some of calm, powerful, all-encompassing build on pre-established * the practice of satirically re- paradigm shift happened in the mid- element of social critique embedded transformation force that we conventions: when confronted creating corporate nineties, with the mass diffusion of in the plot. A controversial and not desperately need. with a particular visual layout or advertisments 18 19 pattern the player will tend to interpret any sort. Everything is purely virtual, That’s the valuable teaching of * a international alternative ideas into the medium.