Jodi 

Jet Set Willy Variations c1984

A computer game with abstract graphics

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German Version

netzspannung.org

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Abstract

”Jet Set Willy” consists of ten variations on the computer game ”Jet Set Willy” that was launched in the eighties for one of the first home computers, the Sinclair ZX Spectrum. The code has been modified in such a way that although the basic functions of the game are the same, the on-screen graphics are often reminiscent of the abstract paintings of such artists as Mondrian or Peter Halley. Other variations incorporate elements of the computer code. ”Jet Set Willy”, presented in the exhibition as a ”non-interactive” DVD version, is the third work by Jodi to focus on a computer game. While ”SOD” and ”Untitled Game” are based on relatively recent games from the nineties, ”Jet Set Willy” harks back to the history of gaming. The work is written in BASIC, a programming language now in danger of becoming extinct. ”Jet Set Willy” is also Jodi’s homage to the culture of hobby game programmers in the eighties, when it was mainly teenagers developing games, including all the music and graphics, single-handedly on the first home computers, a development that is one of the best examples of the libertarian do-it-yourself ethic of the early computer subculture, a mainstay of Jodi’s work.
(Tilman Baumgärtel)

Artists / Authors

Origination

Netherlands, 2001-2002

URL

» http://jetsetwilly.jodi.org/

Submission

, Apr 13, 2004

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