Andrew Cardy

My practice approaches the discourse of Game Art through an investigation into the medium of games as an artistic platform. I propose that the interaction within games become the art, as they push us to negotiate logics on a higher cognitive level, in turn providing an honest self-critique and perception.

Through a limitation of space and possibility, critical game environments challenge the comforts of our consciousness, forcing choices within fixed frameworks. Resultant movement within such an enclosure becomes an art form in a consideration of body in space, avatar in game, ball in maze. Such an environment comprised on the foundation of logic denotes the actions therein as demonstrating patterns of thinking through movement and action.

Consequently the intuitive foundations of our mind are given canvas. Through participating in testing the cognitive capabilities of both spatial and pattern recognition, the audience record the visualised process of playing; an art form of action. This environment of engagement furthermore projects the psychological tendencies of immersion and addiction, as the engrossment of the mind is captured by the boundaries of a game. 

The physical presence of the artworks compounds these sentiments; having a distinctly human aspect in their craft as woodworks and through participants’ presence within the projected game. Choreography of the space reflects these considerations, through an appropriation of maze imagery, fitting-block aesthetic and interactive platforms, an environment is created that demands the employment of logic and decision-making in a negotiation of its space. 

An awareness of self and surrounding that these works instigate provides the critical foundation for this installation. It is this foundation that offers credence to the research project’s hypothesis that games are artworks, as they offer a creative foundation for the projection of thought.