Jodi
Encyclopedia
Jodi, or jodi.org, is a collective of two internet artists: Joan Heemskerk (born 1968 in Kaatsheuvel
, the Netherlands
) and Dirk Paesmans (born 1965 in Brussels
, Belgium
). Their background is in photography
and video art
; since the mid-1990s they started to create original artworks for the World Wide Web. A few years later, they also turned to software art
and artistic computer game modification
. Since 2002, they have been in what has been called their "Screen Grab" period, making video works by recording the computer monitor's output while working, playing video games, or coding.
In more recent works, they modified old video games such as Wolfenstein 3D
, Quake
, Jet Set Willy
, and the latest, Max Payne 2 (2006) to create a new set of art game
s. Jodi's approach to game modification is comparable in many ways to deconstructivism
in architecture, because they would disassemble the game to its basic parts, and reassemble it in ways that do not make intuitive sense. One of their more well-known modifications of Quake places the player inside a closed cube with swirling black-and-white patterns on each side. The pattern is the result of a glitch in the game engine
discovered by the artists, presumably, through trial and error; it is generated live as the Quake engine
tries, and fails, to visualize the interior of a cube with black-and-white checked wallpaper.
Jodi's "Screen Grab" period began with the four-screen video installation My%Desktop (2002), which premiered at the Plugin Media Lab in Basel. The piece appeared to depict mammoth Mac OS 9
computers running amok: opening windows cascaded across the screen, error messages squawked, and files replicated themselves endlessly. But this was not a computer gone haywire, but a computer user gone haywire. To make this video, Jodi simply pointed-and-clicked and dragged-and-dropped so frantically, it seemed that no human could be in control of such chaos. As graphics exploded across the screen, the viewer gradually realized that what had initially appeared to be a computer glitch was really the work of an irrational, playful, or crazed human.
An animation made for BananaRAM website for the Mind Control theme edition.
http://www.bananaram.org/web04/index.php?id=17
Kaatsheuvel
Kaatsheuvel is a village in the Dutch province of North Brabant, situated along highways N261 and N628. With a population of roughly 16,600, it is the largest village in and the capital of the municipality of Loon op Zand, which also consists of the villages of De Moer and Loon op Zand...
, the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
) and Dirk Paesmans (born 1965 in Brussels
Brussels
Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...
, Belgium
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
). Their background is in photography
Photography
Photography is the art, science and practice of creating durable images by recording light or other electromagnetic radiation, either electronically by means of an image sensor or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film...
and video art
Video art
Video art is a type of art which relies on moving pictures and comprises video and/or audio data. . Video art came into existence during the 1960s and 1970s, is still widely practiced and has given rise to the widespread use of video installations...
; since the mid-1990s they started to create original artworks for the World Wide Web. A few years later, they also turned to software art
Software art
Software art refers to works of art where the creation of software, or concepts from software, play an important role; for example software applications which were created by artists and which were intended as artworks. As an artistic discipline software art has attained growing attention since the...
and artistic computer game modification
Artistic computer game modification
Video game art involves the use of patched or modified video games or the repurposing of existing games or game structures. Often this modification is through the use of level editors, though other techniques exist...
. Since 2002, they have been in what has been called their "Screen Grab" period, making video works by recording the computer monitor's output while working, playing video games, or coding.
In more recent works, they modified old video games such as Wolfenstein 3D
Wolfenstein 3D
Wolfenstein 3D is a video game that is generally regarded by critics and gaming journalists as having both popularized the first-person shooter genre on the PC and created the basic archetype upon which all subsequent games of the same genre would be built. It was created by id Software and...
, Quake
Quake (series)
The Quake series is a line of first-person shooter video games produced by id Software.-Overview:The Quake series is somewhat unusual in that its focus changes frequently; the story of Quake II has nothing to do with Quake, and Quake III Arena has little to do with either of its predecessors...
, Jet Set Willy
Jet Set Willy
Jet Set Willy is a computer game originally written for the ZX Spectrum home computer. It was published in 1984 by Software Projects and ported to most home computers of the time....
, and the latest, Max Payne 2 (2006) to create a new set of art game
Art game
An art game or arthouse game is a video game that is designed in such a way as to emphasize art or whose structure is intended to produce some kind of reaction in its audience. Art games typically go out of their way to have a unique, unconventional look, often standing out for aesthetic beauty or...
s. Jodi's approach to game modification is comparable in many ways to deconstructivism
Deconstructivism
Deconstructivism is a development of postmodern architecture that began in the late 1980s. It is characterized by ideas of fragmentation, an interest in manipulating ideas of a structure's surface or skin, non-rectilinear shapes which serve to distort and dislocate some of the elements of...
in architecture, because they would disassemble the game to its basic parts, and reassemble it in ways that do not make intuitive sense. One of their more well-known modifications of Quake places the player inside a closed cube with swirling black-and-white patterns on each side. The pattern is the result of a glitch in the game engine
Game engine
A game engine is a system designed for the creation and development of video games. There are many game engines that are designed to work on video game consoles and personal computers...
discovered by the artists, presumably, through trial and error; it is generated live as the Quake engine
Quake engine
The Quake engine is the game engine that was written to power 1996's Quake, written by id Software. It featured true 3D real-time rendering and is now licensed under the terms of the GNU General Public License ....
tries, and fails, to visualize the interior of a cube with black-and-white checked wallpaper.
Jodi's "Screen Grab" period began with the four-screen video installation My%Desktop (2002), which premiered at the Plugin Media Lab in Basel. The piece appeared to depict mammoth Mac OS 9
Mac OS
Mac OS is a series of graphical user interface-based operating systems developed by Apple Inc. for their Macintosh line of computer systems. The Macintosh user experience is credited with popularizing the graphical user interface...
computers running amok: opening windows cascaded across the screen, error messages squawked, and files replicated themselves endlessly. But this was not a computer gone haywire, but a computer user gone haywire. To make this video, Jodi simply pointed-and-clicked and dragged-and-dropped so frantically, it seemed that no human could be in control of such chaos. As graphics exploded across the screen, the viewer gradually realized that what had initially appeared to be a computer glitch was really the work of an irrational, playful, or crazed human.
Selected works
- http://g33con.com/
- http://globalmove.us/
- http://geogeo.jodi.org/
- http://map.jodi.org/ - Jodi's personal map of the Web
- http://404.jodi.org/ - playing with the "404 - File not Found" premise
- http://sod.jodi.org/ - an art gameArt gameAn art game or arthouse game is a video game that is designed in such a way as to emphasize art or whose structure is intended to produce some kind of reaction in its audience. Art games typically go out of their way to have a unique, unconventional look, often standing out for aesthetic beauty or...
modification of Wolfenstein 3DWolfenstein 3DWolfenstein 3D is a video game that is generally regarded by critics and gaming journalists as having both popularized the first-person shooter genre on the PC and created the basic archetype upon which all subsequent games of the same genre would be built. It was created by id Software and... - http://asdfg.jodi.org/
- http://text.jodi.org/
- http://jetsetwilly.jodi.org/
- http://www.wrongbrowser.com/ - absurd artistic interpretation of a browser (Alt-F4 to exit on Windows, CMD-Q on Mac)
- http://www.untitled-game.org/ - also on CD-ROM, twelve modifications of QuakeQuake (series)The Quake series is a line of first-person shooter video games produced by id Software.-Overview:The Quake series is somewhat unusual in that its focus changes frequently; the story of Quake II has nothing to do with Quake, and Quake III Arena has little to do with either of its predecessors...
- http://maxpaynecheatsonly.jodi.org/ - cheats on built-in functions of the video game Max Payne 2 - new work released in May 2006
- http://blogspot.jodi.org/ - Jodi's art blogs
- An interview with Jodi by Tilman Baumgaertel on the nettime mailing list archives http://www.nettime.org/Lists-Archives/nettime-l-9708/msg00112.html
An animation made for BananaRAM website for the Mind Control theme edition.
http://www.bananaram.org/web04/index.php?id=17