012
15-02-2021
James Webb
📍️ Konig Gallery/ Online
EXERCISE IN HOPELESS NOSTALGIA: WORLD WIDE WEBB
Thomas Webb @ Konig Gallery
I downloaded König’s app today + was keen to explore and review all three shows on the platform, but one work really absorbed my attention.
Thomas Webb’s 'EXERCISE IN HOPELESS NOSTALGIA: WORLD WIDE WEBB’ is seriously good. A seemingly light hearted game effortlessly evokes reflection and encourages the player to think into the present and close future.
The 80s style pixels brought comfort + I was immediately amused by the satirical caricature of Berlin; picking herbs for points and waiting 60 seconds in the queue for digi-Berghain only to get rejected by the gate keeper: “n o t t o n i g h t”.
Spending time in a pixelated Berlin, this mobile browser game got deeper as new realms opened up, as my avatar travelled through the city to reach König gallery.
I don’t want to give too many ~spoilers~ but unlocking the exhibition’s description by a virtual Johann König after finding the curator, Anika Meier’s, face mask was an amusing highlight.
I became more and more impressed as the game went on, leading intelligently to a thoughtful critique of data, AI, and tech; in the artworks shown in the virtual space, as well as the video game itself.
Thomas Webb is an artist, hacker and coder, and while I can’t get myself out to Berlin to see the IRL show, his digital art space is really cool.
Geo Merchant
