Deview with Denis Galanin.
What’s wrong with Jonathan Jones?
I think, Jonathan doesn’t understand video games and game genres at all. According to the logic of Jonathan the cinema and theater aren’t art also. It’s partly right. Some movies (Michael Bay) really aren’t art, but some movies (Wes Anderson) are absolute art. For an example, some game genres (walking simulator) have more in common with cinema, than with other games. Johnathan has to play ICO.
Video games are a quintessence of the modern art. Video games have united in themselves all the best of painting, cinema, theater, literature, architecture and music.
Are there video games you wouldn’t consider art? If so: Aren’t there just two categories in the world – good art and bad art?
Yes of course. I don’t see a difference with movies here. Not all video games are art, like the fact that not all movies are art too.
Does the aspect of interactivity & fun make games more or less artistic?
Any person can call of difference between painting and music without problems.
Interactivity is feature which distinguishes video games from other types of arts.
How important is weirdness for art in general and video games in particular?
I’m not an art critic, but I like weird things in cinema and video games. The weirdness is the first sign of novelty and freshness.
What are some of your favourite strange/avant-garde games?
ICO by Team Ico. Because ICO is synonym of art in video games.
BadDay L.A. by American McGee. Because it’s the brightest representative of postmodernism in video games. It’s bad as a video game, but it’s magnificent as art.
Where are video games today, evolution-wise? What could/should the future of video games look like?
Where Do We Come From? What Are We? Where Are We Going? I have no answers to these questions. 🙂
“Kafka” could also be a slang expression for a “young, highly promiscuous woman,” right?
I don’t know. English isn’t my native language. In Russian “Kafka” is only a synonym of weirdness and absurdity.
Subversion can be a protagonist in its own right – what are some of the subversive strategies you would like to employ in your next project?
The Franz Kafka Videogame is the collection of diversions. I constantly distract attention of the player that easy puzzle looked as very difficult puzzle. I plan to use these receptions and in my future projects.
Why did you make an almost disappointingly non-weird entity like a beetle Thumper’s hero?
In my opinion, The Franz Kafka Videogame looks very weird. I don’t show all weird things at once because at the beginning the world of the game has to look habitual and logical. But further I overturn everything upside down several times.
Image source: mif2000.blogspot.de