Garden of Forking Paths

Overview

The idea of ‘play’ as an art form has been floating around since Surrealism and Dada, yet people still tend to think of art and video games as being enemies. Art makes you culturally superior, while video games are for fat guys who sit around in their underwear eating bowls of cereal. It’s only in the last few years that the masses have become more open to the idea of digital interaction as a form of artistic exploration, but there are some artists who have been experimenting with technology, play, narrative and interaction since the early ‘80s.

The Garden of Forking Paths draws together a range of historic and contemporary artists who have created boundary-pushing computer games that break the traditional shoot-em-up gaming orthodoxies. Jaron Lanier’s 1983 Moondust is the earliest example, even incorporating an ‘80s version of the Wii remote. Laurie Anderson and Hsin-Chien Huang’s 1995 Puppet Motel CD-ROM consists of a series of beautifully crafted interactive rooms filled with Anderson’s stories, imagery and music, giving the user no instructions as to how to interact with them. Artists Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn’s 2009 The Path reworks the Little Red Riding Hood story, delving into the psyche of the audience with a short horror game that blurs the line between art and video games.

All of the works are interactive, with some installed on ‘antique’ computers sourced specially to allow viewers to experience the games with authenticity.