Tribe - War

The second work in SMACK’s Tribe project is a live, generative piece in which characters of different colours fight to occupy the central space on a plain blue screen. “Classical depictions tend to be wars between countries or based on religion,” says Meijdam, “but there’s this new kind of civil war emerging online in which people are immersed in their subcultures and everybody thinks their own little bubble-tribe is the only truth there is.”

To reflect this, the characters in Tribe - War are programmed to fight based solely on their colour, reacting automatically against their counterparts of a different shade. The absurdity of this conflict is underlined by the empty setting, cartoonish figures and bright tones, while the endless nature of the work reflects the permanence of violence. “I think the power of the piece is that it's about universal human behaviour,” says Bela Zsigmond. “It’s an infinite war and we never learn from it. That’s a painful mirror for us as human beings.” 

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Technique
Real-time generative art piece

Year
2022

Edition
Unique + 1AP

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Excerpt from Tribe - War