R/C an experimental project
Joan Leandre and the poetics of the rules
Every game means something, as the Dutch historian and philosopher Johan Huizinga said, and a game is essentially its rules. Through their rules, video games can convey ideas or encourage gameplay dynamics with a certain symbolism, a form of signification that Ian Bogost (an American academic and video game designer) terms “procedural rhetoric”. The digital art of creators such as Joan Leandre, based on the manipulation of computer code, also alludes to the importance of integrating generative systems and rules into artistic reflection.
R/C is an experimental project based on the deconstruction of software. Leandre manipulated the code and structure of the Re-Volt racing game and reduced the game to three phases: the generation of a variable centre of gravity; the elimination of the environment; and the transformation of the mobile components. The deconstruction process ends with the abandonment of the initial aim of the game (the race) and the program operating on its own, with no need for any interaction by the gamer.
Related to Gameplay
1 January 1999