JODI: Variable Art for the ZX Spectrum
Where: Centrespace, DCA, 152 Nethergate, Dundee DD1 4DY
When: 1st – 28th August 2016. Thursday 11am – 8pm, Friday – Sunday 11am – 6pm
JODI, Jet Set Willy Variations, 2002, ZX Spectrum emulator
NEoN Digital Arts is proud to present the work of JODI. The artist duo, also known as Jodi.org, is considered one of the most influential artist groups working on the Web and they are important pioneers in the artistic manipulation of videogames. Their contributions to digital, avant-garde art have inspired many artists and cultural thinkers.
The exhibition features JODI’s experiments based on the ZX Spectrum, the 8-bit home computer that was manufactured in Dundee. It includes their programmes written in the computer language BASIC and their modification of ‘Jet Set Willy’, the popular platform game made available for the ZX Spectrum in the mid 80s.
One of the intriguing aspects of JODI’s working process is their continuous re-presentation or restaging of their works, a strategy through which they revisit older projects by letting them adapt to new technological environments and transferring them to different mediums – from videogames and websites to user-instructions, videos and maps. JODI’s critical strategies of reformatting existing works shows how their art is variable and transforms over time.
Joan Heemskerk (Dutch, born 1968) and Dirk Paesmans (Belgium, born 1965) together form JODI, an artistic duo living and working in the Netherlands. Recently they were awarded the Prix NetArt 2014 for their web works, and their installation ‘My%Desktop’ (2002) was acquired by the Museum of Modern Art in New York in 2015.
Special Events:
DiGRA Play Party
Where: Verdant Works, Dundee
When: Tuesday 2nd August, 8.00pm midnight
JODI will stage their performance with the ‘ZYX-app’, an iPhone application that encourages the user to become a performer. The performance will be part of the DiGRA Play Party, which will take place in one of Dundee’s most historic industrial venues, an atmospheric setting for an informal evening of drinks and dancing with the legendary Richard Lemarchand on the decks. Entry will be by ticket only. www.digra-fdg2016.org
DARE Protoplay
Where: City Square, Dundee
When: 4th – 7th August, Thursday – Saturday >10am – 6pm, Sunday 10am – 4pm
For DARE ProtoPlay NEoN is excited to present ‘JODI: ZX Spectrum Game Experiments’: A look at their work ‘Jet Set Willy Variations’, consisting of modifications of the 1984 video game Jet Set Willy. This series includes playable works often reminiscent of the abstract paintings of such artists as Piet Mondrian or Peter Halley.
