Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Time to play

So you build a game that lets players enter the Museum of Modern Art in New York and join a line to sit opposite Marina Abramovic. In a serious nod to the real world, you only allow the game to be played when the Museum is open in real time. No playing on Thanksgiving Day or Christmas Day, after hours or on Tuesdays when the MoMA is closed. What happens though when MoMA changes its opening hours to every day of the week? Do you change the hours for the game or leave them as they are as a bit of history?

While you are pondering this existential question, along with the game’s creator Pippin Barr and at least one bemused player, you might like to visit the games he made in collaboration with Marina Abramovic. They are now available here, and you can play them any damn time you like.


Image: top the mineral tablet room in the virtual MAI and bottom Marina Abramovic's mineral tablets spotted on a very wet day in Tachikawa, Tokyo (the same set that was used to model the virtual set #insider knowledge)