2009-05-03 Dorkbot

dorkbot vienna #7 - walter langelaar - may 3, 2009 / 7:00 PM @ metalab

hosted by monochrom (j grenzfurthner) and coded cultures

nOtbOt

nOtbOt is an automated game-player which is controlled and deranged by reactions to it's own virtual environment, caught in a vicious force-feedback loop... The installation consists of a hacked up human-computer interface in which the feedback system, originally intended to provide tangible interaction for a human player, is now used as input data to control a 'first-person' videogame. Human interaction with the game/controller becomes obsolete, resulting in a completely erratic form of [art]ificial intelligence. The observer of the installation, however, can literally try to 'get a grip' on taking control of the system...

>>Walter Langelaar's "nOtbOt" is a self-playing videogame; to be specific, it is a mechanized Logitech "Wingman Force" joystick that has its robotic maneuvers projected in real-time in front of it. In certain ways, Langelaar's installation recalls the similarly automated works of Paul Johnson, but where Johnson's games are vacuum-sealed, seen but not touched, "nOtbOt" allows viewers to actually grab hold of the controller. In the process of trying to, as Langelaar cleverly puts it, "get a grip" on the device, players confront their own metaphoric role in a feedback loop that no longer requires them -- where the real object of obsolescence is not the technology, but the players themselves.<< (from: Gameworld exhibition catalogue)