HalfLife
2001
s
Video Archive
In HalfLife, a multi-channel video installation, Brambilla juxtaposes surveillance footage of gamers playing the video game Counter-Strike with live-feed footage of the game itself.
Placing the young men in the “cross-hairs” point-of-view while simultaneously capturing their virtual actions, the work highlights the physical displacement and psychological dislocation inherent in entering the digital world. A virtual cycle of life unfolds as their actions inside the gameworld turn into a progressively more violent video spectacle.
Placing the young men in the “cross-hairs” point-of-view while simultaneously capturing their virtual actions, the work highlights the physical displacement and psychological dislocation inherent in entering the digital world. A virtual cycle of life unfolds as their actions inside the gameworld turn into a progressively more violent video spectacle.
The HalfLife installation included a third video channel of actual surveillance footage shot in a cyber-café in Garden Grove, California, where video surveillance systems were implemented by the City Council in 2004 to monitor a sudden increase in gang violence.
Three-channel DVD, color, sound. 9m41s., loop.
sdf
Exhibitions & screenings
2004 Nevada Art Museum
Reno, Las Vegas
2004 Contemporary Arts Forum
Santa Barbara, California
2004 Orange County Biennial
Orange County Museum of Art
Newport, California
2003 Project Room
New Museum of Contemporary Art
New York, New York
2002 Christopher Grimes Gallery
Santa Monica, California
Collections
Institución Ferial de Madrid (IFEMA)
Madrid, Spain
Metronom Foundation for Contemporary Art
Barcelona, Spain
Selected press
New Museum
Marco Brambilla: Halflife
Artforum
Marco Brambilla: The Dark Lining
2004 Nevada Art Museum
Reno, Las Vegas
2004 Contemporary Arts Forum
Santa Barbara, California
2004 Orange County Biennial
Orange County Museum of Art
Newport, California
2003 Project Room
New Museum of Contemporary Art
New York, New York
2002 Christopher Grimes Gallery
Santa Monica, California
Collections
Institución Ferial de Madrid (IFEMA)
Madrid, Spain
Metronom Foundation for Contemporary Art
Barcelona, Spain
Selected press
New Museum
Marco Brambilla: Halflife
Artforum
Marco Brambilla: The Dark Lining