RECKONING 3

RECKONING 3 is the first in a series of investigations into:

1. Terror and wonder in big-budget virtual worlds

2. The mutability, fragility and loneliness of technologically mediated social identities and friendships

3. The queerness and malevolence of archetypal masculinity

4. The diminishing distance between "real" and "artificial" humanity

5. The poetics of blockbuster aesthetics

RECKONING 3 is comprised largely of imagery and sound culled from over two years of Mac and Playstation 3 video game play. Some of this play was explorational, some was performative and much was anthropological in intent. The latter category of play was conducted in online multiplayer "shooter" games, in which numerous strangers (seemingly all male) drop in and out of play and communicate via headset microphones. Though I had the ability to communicate with these strangers through my own headset microphone, I was more or less paralyzed by horror and disorientation; I remained silent and documented my eavesdropping. RECKONING 3 is an attempt toward a lucid and expansive reflection on that disorientation.

Note: This title is intended by the artist to be viewed in High Definition. While DVD format is available to enable accessibility, VDB recommends presentation on Blu-ray or HD digital file.