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Natalia Carminati.
Pac-Art. Interactive multimedia installation. Barcelona, 2016.
Machine: handmade arcade cabinet designed and built based on original Arcade machine models. Materials: dm wood panels, aluminium, PVC, t-moulding, spray, methacrylate, led panel, 4w loudspeakers, Arcade joystick, Dell monitor. Paintings on side panels: oil on dm wood panels. Door and front panel: laminated adhesive vinyl.
Videogame: Pac-Art is programmed in Unity 3d. Connection from HP computer. Pac-Art is based on the video game Pac-Man (TM & @ 1980 1993 NAMCO LTD).
Dimensions: 175 x 65 x 75 cm (cabinet) / 175 x 190 x 220 cm (installation).
Pac-Art is an interactive installation that shows how the power struggle governs the relations among the beings of our human species.
On the one hand, the installation shows two oil-painted versions of Goya’s Saturn as a current reflection of the tacit cannibalism that interweaves human relations. At the same time, these paintings of Saturn on the side panels of the cabinet retrieve the belief that Goya originally painted Saturn with his penis up – later hidden by El Prado’s conservation department when transferred onto canvas. In this way, Pac-Art refers to the history of art and classical mythology to explain how the greed for power has been part of the human essence throughout time.
On the other hand, Pac-Art is a version of the top-rated Arcade video game Pac-Man. In this case, Pac-Man was transformed into an artist who has to devour a famous work of art and flee from ghost-artists who threaten him. Four art pills give Pac-Art the power to devour whatever he finds on his way. The objective of Pac-Art is to eat as many ghost-artists, art pills and works of art as possible to accumulate points that can be registered in a high score. Just as it happens in the real world, the participants enter a competition with themselves and other players becoming participants in the dynamics of an increasingly competitive society.
Link to the project (Spanish pdf document).
Images of Pack-Art videogame courtesy of Natalia Carminati, 2016/2018.