EAI and Rhizome present renowned digital artists JODI in a rare public demonstration of their latest video game modifications, Max Payne Cheats Only. The work is a series of "cheats": alterations to the behavior of a video game that are often built in by the original programmers to help players who have reached an impasse. JODI has compiled cheats from the ultra-violent New York vigilante game, Max Payne. Their live demonstration will be followed by an in-depth discussion and question and answer session hosted by media art curator Caitlin Jones.

"Jodi have intervened in the programme structure in such a way that absurd perspectives and effects alter the game's otherwise realistic graphics: we see the massive hero repeating idiotic movements; he dips his angular head into a virtual matrix; his body appears semitransparent. The re-processing can be read as a free interpretation of the bullet-time effect that distinguishes Max Payne from other games, by which the slow motion enables a new perception of space and time."

-Transmediale Festival 26

"We wanted to do something that was non-aesthetically ours. No scary black blobs on jumping white backgrounds, but trying to achieve the impossible - an abstraction within the aesthetic of a game which is already set."

-JODI
http://maxpaynecheatsonly.jodi.org

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JODI

JODI pioneered Web art in the mid-199s. Based in The Netherlands, JODI were among the first artists to investigate and subvert conventions of the Internet, computer programs, and video and computer games. Radically disrupting the very language of these systems, including interfaces, commands, errors and code, JODI stages extreme digital interventions that destabilize the relationship between computer technology and its users.

JODI (Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans) was formed in 1994. Joan Heemskerk was born in 1968 in Kaatsheue, The Netherlands. Dirk Paesmans was born in 1965 in Brussels, Belgium. Heemskerk and Paesman both attended Silicon Valley's electronic arts laboratory CADRE at San Jose State University in California; Paesmans also studied with Nam June Paik at the Kunstakademie in Dusseldorf. JODI's works are typically seen online. Their recent solo exhibitions include INSTALL.EXE at Eyebeam, New York, which toured to [plug-in], Basel, and BuroFriedrich, Berlin; and Computing 11B at FACT Centre, Liverpool, England. Their works have also been exhibited at Centre for Contemporary Art, Glasgow; Kunstverein Bonn; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; Zentrum fur Kunst und Medientechnologie, Karlsruhe, Germany, and Documenta X, Kassel, Germany, among others.


Caitlin Jones

Caitlin Jones has recently taken a position as the Director of Programming at the Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery in New York, NY. Prior to this, Jones held a combined curatorial and conservation position at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. She co-curated the groundbreaking exhibition Seeing Double: Emulation in Theory and Practice and coordinated the Deutsche Guggenheim exhibition, Nam June Paik: Global Groove 24. As a key member of the Variable Media Network, Caitlin has also been responsible for developing important tools and policy for the preservation of electronic and ephemeral artworks. Her writings on new media art presentation and preservation have appeared in a wide range of catalogs and international publications.


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About Rhizome

Rhizome is an online platform for the global new media art community. It supports the creation, presentation, discussion and preservation of contemporary art that uses new technologies in significant ways. Our programs include publications, archiving of new media art, commissioning of new artwork, online discussions and offline and online exhibits. In 23, Rhizome affiliated with the New Museum of Contemporary Art.

www.rhizome.org


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About EAI

Founded in 1971, Electronic Arts Intermix (EAI) is one of the world's leading nonprofit resources for video art and interactive media. EAI's core program is the international distribution of a major collection of new and historical media works by artists. EAI's activities include a preservation program, viewing access, educational services, online resources, and public programs such as exhibitions and lectures. The Online Catalogue provides a comprehensive resource on the 175 artists and 3, works in the EAI collection, including extensive research materials and artists' Web projects.

www.eai.org


Electronic Arts Intermix
535 West 22nd Street, 5th Floor
New York, NY 111
(212) 337-68 tel
(212) 337-679 fax
info@eai.org

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