BED
Computer Game / Installation

Come - UCE Fine Art Degree Show 2001
School of Fine Art, BIAD,
University of Central England in Birmingham.

To play Bed the viewer must lie in the hospital bed. The game is broken into two sub-games; ATTACK and ACCIDENT.

ATTACK is based on an incident in which an ex-girlfriend and I were attacked by a group of boys in Stourbridge. The aim is to keep damage to my character to a minimum before a taxi arrives. ACCIDENT is based on a car crash, in which I broke my neck and back.

The games try to dramatise violent and harmful events as TV, cinema and photography can, but also to trivialise these events and transform them into safe and entertaining simulated games. They are not only exaggerated reconstructions of the events, but aim to emphasise acts of defense, protection and retaliation in violent circumstances.

Other issues raised are; my involvement with the public and their intervention in my life; the stereotyping of people, situations and structures of events; and questions of damage, conflict and motivation, and their representation and effect upon behavior.