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Alexanderplatz in Berlin with its pedestrian area, its sparse
green areas bordered by concrete slabs and desolate underpass
is the scene of the action in Reality Check One. The installation
combines images of the real place with a production of it – in
the guise of a computer game. Using existing programs that serve
to build virtual computer game environments Huber has created
an environment in which a detailed copy of the Alexanderplatz
is produced with the help of 3D animations. Unlike commercial
computer games the players do not occupy a fantasy world but an
almost perfect copy of the real place. The virtual world does
not become a substitute, does not serve as a means of escape from
reality but copies the desolation of today’s urban centers.
The player enters this virtual environment
via a games console by selecting an avatar and thus also comes
into contact with other virtual representatives who are at the
scene. The square is populated with various figures which we know
in part from the world of TV and computer games, such as Spiderman,
Lara Croft or the figure of Trinity from the movie
The Matrix. Through his actions and movements the player
is able to determine the course of the action. By moving towards
the figures, he activates existing dialog sequences that question
the shifts of reality between the real world and the virtual world
of computer games. Found footage material from movies such as
Matrix, Thron, Blade Runner or Ghost in the Shell
is featured in the conversations by the ready-made figures. The
player is also able to observe the figures' stories and actions,
to follow their conversations, or to enter into dialog with them
himself.
Video clips and photographs of the real place
and an artificial computer-generated world are merged with one
another. The visitor is confronted with the self-same place at
various levels. This constant alternation between real and virtual
world, between real body and virtual avatar throws up questions
about our own identity, and our own position in an increasingly
changing and ever more complex world.
[ click on thumbnail to view detail ]
born 1957 in Zürich, lives and works in Berlin, Solo exhibitions
(selection): 2001 Galerie Michael Zink, München; 2000 Galerie
Otto Schweins, Köln; 1999 Kunstmuseum Solothurn/Kunstverein
Heilbronn, Städtische Galerie Nordhorn, Nordhorn, Galerie
Peter Kilchmann, Zürich; Group exhibitions (selection): 2000/1999
Rewind to the Future, Neuer Berliner Kunstverein und Bonner
Kunstverein; 1999 Moving Images, Galerie für zeitgenössische
Kunst, Leipzig; 1997 documenta X, Kassel; 1995 Mapping,
American Fine Arts, New York; Fotografie nach der Fotografie,
Siemens Kulturprogramm München
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