ROCK, STAR, NORTH
Digital video (1920 x 1080), color, sound, 23’ 05”, 2016-2022, Scotland
Created by Calum Rodger
In 2016, inspired by Basho, William Wordsworth and Nan Shepherd, Glasgow-based poet Calum Rodger undertook a poetic odyssey inside San Andreas, Grand Theft Auto V’s hyperreal replica of California. In 2017, he chronicled his journey in a 20-minute performance poem titled Rock, Star, North, which premiered at the Scottish Storytelling Centre in Edinburgh in May of that year. In 2021, the poem achieved its final form: a machinipoem, composed entirely of footage from the game, alongside an all-new reading and updated text, which we are now presenting as part of VRAL S03.
Calum Rodger is a Glasgow-based poet working in print, performance and digital forms. He was Scottish National Slam Champion 2019 and holds a Doctorate in Scottish Literature from the University of Glasgow. In the last few years, he has worked extensively at the intersection of poetry and gaming.
TRAVELOGUE is a survey of audiovisual artworks made with or inspired by video games. Using machinima and interactive installations, fifteen artists examine the virtual automobile as medium, message, technological commodity, status symbol, interface, and prosthetics. Created through a process of appropriation and remix, these works lie at the intersection of fiction and documentation, performance and simulation, video art and experimental cinema.
This book is an extended catalogue of the exhibition TRAVELOGUE that I curated between September 7- 11 2016, in Mantua, Italy as part of Festivaletteratura 2016, featuring artworks by Max Almy and Teri Yarbrow, Hugo Arcier, Dave Ball, William Beaudine, Bob-Bicknell Knight, COLL.EO, Clint Enns, Matthew Hillock, JODI, Kristin Lucas, Victor Morales, Leonardo Sang, Palle Torsson. Available in bilingual edition (English and Italian) TRAVELOGUE shares the same format as MACHINIMA. 32 conversazioni sull'arte del videogioco, which was released in 2017.
You can purchase a copy of TRAVELOGUE on Blurb or Amazon US. It will soon be available on Amazon Italy.
We are delighted to announce an upcoming art exhibition in Mantua, Italy:
TRAVELOGUE
Curated by Matteo Bittanti
September 7- 11 2016
Cantine di Vincenzo I Gonzaga
Piazzetta Santa Barbara, 46100 Mantua MN
Open every day from 8.15 AM until 19.15 p.m.
Admission: 3 euros
Trailer
Mantua, August 14 2016 - TRAVELOGUE is a survey of audiovisual artworks made with or inspired by video games. Using machinima and interactive installations, fifteen artists examine the virtual automobile as medium, message, technological commodity, status symbol, interface, and prosthetics. Created through a process of appropriation and remix, these works lie at the intersection of fiction and documentation, performance and simulation, video art and experimental cinema.
TRAVELOGUE takes the viewer for a ride through landscapes that are simultaneously familiar and uncanny, featuring dematerialized vehicles in autopilot mode; glitches, ghosts and algorithms; weapons of mass distraction and feedback loops; sudden acceleration, absolute speed, and endless stasis. Until the inevitable crash.
The exhibition is staged in the Cellars of Vincenzo I Gonzaga, a part of the Gonzaga Palace. Featuring an impressive structure with exposed brick walls and beamed vaulted and barrel ceilings, the space features several rooms covering an area of about eight hundred square meters located in a XV Century building.
FEATURED ARTISTS
Max Almy & Teri Yarbrow
Dave Ball
Bob Bicknell-Knight
Clint Enns
COLL.EO
Matthew Hillock
Kristin Lucas
Victor Morales
Leonardo Sang
Palle Torsson
Jean-Baptiste Wejman
+ Surprise artist
COLLATERAL EVENTS
CRASH: GAME AESTHETICS AND CONTEMPORARY ART
Isabelle Arvers e Valentina Tanni in conversation. + SURPRISE SCREENING
Sunday September 11 at 11:30 AM
Cantine di Vincenzo, Piazza Santa Barbara, 46100, Mantua Italy
Admission: 6 euros
What is the difference between video games and game videos? What are the affinities and divergences between video games and video art? What role do electronic simulations play within the current visualscape? Isabelle Arvers and Valentina Tanni discuss the influence of game aesthetics on contemporary art. The conversation is moderated by Matteo Bittanti.
