Till February 19 at Spacex in Exeter, UK: the exhibition ‘Computing 101B’ includes two installation works by JODI; ‘My%Desktop,’ 2002 and ‘Max Payne Cheats Only Gallery,’ 2004. Shown together these projects heighten the tension their work provokes as well as illuminate its psychological and sociological aspects. ‘My%Desktop’ (inaugurated at Eyebeam, New York) places the viewer in the position subservient to the computer; 4 screens loom overhead, versus our usual reversed position of ‘control.’ The desktops are visually and aurally ‘out of control,’ which emphasizes an unconscious anxiety of being powerlessness in the face of technology. ‘Max Payne Cheats Only Gallery’ (commissioned by FACT, Liverpool) reflects the viewer more specifically; the Max Payne character (from the computer game) is not controlled by the gamer and seems to be destined to spend eternity lost in a world created by the computer. ‘Computing 101B’ notes JODI’s shift in focus in 2003 to making work for gallery exhibitions, a shift which now adds a physical dimension to the experience of their work.
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