interactive installation

Alongside 39 artists, Mad Trix has been chosen out of 113 candidates to exhibit an art piece @Rotondes in the framework of the Triennale Jeune Création. The artworks shown at this exhibition called 'Brave new world order' aim to illustrate the world view of our generation, the millennials, dominated by economic, ecological and political disasters.

‘Every opportunity is also a threat’ could sum up the human evolution and the techno-social advancements we as a race have accomplished over time. Never before we enjoyed such comfortable lives but also faced such complex issues and a rigid system which is progressively disintegrating. Game of existence is an interactive installation that draws its inspiration from the rigid and complex multi-layered system in which we humans are sucked into and left to manoeuvre through.

Two opponents are facing each other. In the game, they’re fighting for their survival. It’s either eat or get eaten. At least that’s what they think. Competitiveness is building up between the players through a direct action-reaction gameplay. No matter how well they play or which strategy they use, their greed and envy will always lead to their defeat. ‘Game over’ after ‘game over’, a mix between frustration and ambition will keep them playing over and over again. Will there be a point where they’ll realise that it is not against each other that they are playing, but that they are actually inside ‘the system’?

The representation is carried through a matrix of neopixels arranged on a wooden frame bearing the length of 125X180 cm and controlled by six buttons, three on each long end. The glass top containing the neopixel lights is fixed to that wooden frame on which the buttons are mounted, allowing the underlying chipset to function holistically with the game. The game itself resembles an abstract version of ‘Pong’ layered over a pattern (formed by the neopixels) similar to the neural network of the human brain with nodes and junctions. The game begins and an array of light appears and gets dynamic within the pattern. Each time it hits a junction it changes direction to an unpredictable line of lights. The players push the buttons in front of them to send back this beam of light when it approaches them. The game accelerates faster and faster with time, rendering the players unable to stop the light by pushing the buttons in the right moment at the light’s passage. The sudden direction change and speed of the light beam makes the players lose every time. That’s when the game reaches its static state and waits until someone attempts to win over it again.