[pile of secrets]
Video series, game footage, LCD monitor
dimensions variable
2011
What is a game but a pile of secrets?
Flanagan captured several terabytes of video imagery from computer games published from 1980 – present, answering the question, “What makes a game a game?” Common elements –typically formal elements — across video games are assembled into from Flanagan’s massive database. Thematic videos from the ongoing series include Jump, Ascend, Dying, Key, Treasure, Corridor, Shooting, and Doors.
The project manifests a structural analysis of games in a creative form, exploring the quintessential elements central to the experience of digital play. The videos are shown in infinite loops alluding not only the repetitive elements but also to the repeat plays that games offer as a typical part of their structure.
Exhibitions
Solo Exhibitions
- Telfair Museum, Savannah, Georgia, February 2012
Group Exhibitions
- Gameplay: Video Game Culture, Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain, December 2019 – May 2020
- ZKM Gameplay Mobile, Representing of the State of Baden-Württemberg, Berlin, Germany, November – December 2013
- ZKM Gameplay Exhibition, ZKM | Center for Art and Media, Karlsruhe, Germany, June 21 2013-2014
- video of the exhibition
- exhibition catalog (in German; English forthcoming).
- Play Station Exhibition, Postmasters Gallery, New York, New York, December 2011
- STRP Festival, Eindhoven, Netherlands, November 2011
- NextLevel Festival, Köln, Germany, November 2011
- ArtEZ Studium Generale, PLAY Festival, Zwolle, Netherlands, 2012
Press
- Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona: Gameplay. Cultura del videojoc
- Press release. “«Game On» para «Gameplay»: los videojuegos se cuelan en el museo” 19 December 2019.
Additional Credits
Sukdith Punjasthitkul, Matthew Cloyd, Mehta Punjasthitkul and Han Lee