Suzanne Treister - Amiga Videogame Stills

Suzanne Treister
1992

Fictional videogame stills - Series 2: Q. Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?

In the late 1980s I was making paintings about computer games.

In January 1991 I bought an Amiga computer and made a series of fictional videogame stills using Deluxe Paint II. I photographed them straight from the screen as there was no other way to output them that I knew of. Also, the effect of the photographs perfectly reproduced the highly pixellated, raised needlepoint effect of the Amiga screen image. Conceptually this means of presentation was also appropriate in that it made it seem like I had gone into a videogame arcade and photographed the games there, lending authenticity to the fiction.

This second series of fictional videogame stills, 'Q. Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?', was not part of the exhibition at Edward Totah Gallery in London but was only shown at the Exeter Hotel in Adelaide, Australia in 1992 and later in London at the Royal Festival Hall in the exhibition It's a Pleasure, curated by Leah Kharibian in 1995.
More recently selected works were show at Somerset House, London, 2018 view installation ; Akron Art Museum, Ohio, USA 2019 and tour; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, 2019/20 view installation

The original Amiga floppy disks which stored the image files are corrupt, but the photographic art works remain.

For more information download my essay from 'Videogames and Art', Ed. Andy Clarke, Grethe Mitchell, Publ. Intellect Books, UK 2007

View all Fictional videogame stills

click to view enlargements

Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise? Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?: Not enough memory Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?: Presume Virtual Breakdown Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?: Virtual Wilderness

Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?: Software Failure. Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?: Error finding Question Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?: No Message - Proceed

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© Suzanne Treister 1991/1992

Suzanne Treister 1992 Fictional videogame stills - Series 2: Q. Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise? In the late 1980s I was making paintings about computer games. In January 1991 I bought an Amiga computer and made a series of fictional videogame stills using Deluxe Paint II. I photographed them straight from the screen as there was no other way to output them that I knew of. Also, the effect of the photographs perfectly reproduced the highly pixellated, raised needlepoint effect of the Amiga screen image. Conceptually this means of presentation was also appropriate in that it made it seem like I had gone into a videogame arcade and photographed the games there, lending authenticity to the fiction. This second series of fictional videogame stills, 'Q. Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?', was not part of the exhibition at Edward Totah Gallery in London but was only shown at the Exeter Hotel in Adelaide, Australia in 1992 and later in London at the Royal Festival Hall in the exhibition It's a Pleasure, curated by Leah Kharibian in 1995. More recently selected works were show at Somerset House, London, 2018 view installation ; Akron Art Museum, Ohio, USA 2019 and tour; Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden, 2019/20 view installation The original Amiga floppy disks which stored the image files are corrupt, but the photographic art works remain. For more information download my essay from 'Videogames and Art', Ed. Andy Clarke, Grethe Mitchell, Publ. Intellect Books, UK 2007 View all Fictional videogame stills click to view enlargements

Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?	Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?: Not enough memory	Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?: Presume Virtual Breakdown	Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?: Virtual Wilderness

Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?: Software Failure.	Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?: Error finding Question	Would you recognise a Virtual Paradise?: No Message - Proceed