littlemathletics

Since meeting at the Academy of Media Arts in Cologne in the late 90s media artists Roman Kirschner, Volker Morawe and Tilman Rieff have been working together under the name fur, a group that, in their own words “stands for the re-staging of computer-entertainment based on multisensory interfaces” – or, in other words, work to decontextualise videogames and other forms of computer based amusements by changing the way they are used.

By changing the interfaces used to interact, the creations of fur go beyond “visual navigation, manual control and massive single-user isolation” to become something completely new, not only within the world of videogames, but also within the world of art. Their most famous work is the PainStation, from 2001- a game of Pong within a specially designed cabinet that would whip and shock players hands, often causing tangible wounds, which fur describe as a ” a contemporary dueling system”.

The team won an International Media Art Award for the machine in 2003, the same year in which the machine was superseded by the PainStation 2, and that by the PainStation 2.5 in 2004. Since then, the six PainStation machines have been touring the world, displayed at exhibitions from London to Mexico City and just about everywhere in between.

Reaction to the machine on the PainStation website’s guestbook is varied, ranging from the good:

“Greatest gaming console the world has ever known. Me and two of my friends visited London last summer after our graduation. We ended up going to the V&A’s TOUCH exibit where we thankfully found the original PainStation. We couldn’t or at least I couldn’t get enough of plaing the game, I believed that I stood there playing various spectators for over two hours.”

To the bad:

“This is so DUMB… are people so bored that they want to get themselves hurt??? Then again, there are movies of dudes hitting eachother with things for FUN so i’m not that surprised people would also find this Painstation thing cool.”

And the ugly:

“Fuck off you stupid wankers, fucking sadomastic pricks, go strangle yourself with barbewire or something.”

littlemathletics recently spoke briefly to Tilman Rieff about the PainStation, the notions of games as art, and their plans for world domination…

Can you explain a little about what fur do, and your work within fur?

We are developing “art entertainment interfaces”…mechatronic artifacts that are re-evaluating the boundaries between man and his apparatus. Most of the time our creations are gaming machines that somehow incorporate new interactive experiences.

Do you feel what you do bridges the gap between games and art – or do you even feel that there is a gap in the first place?

There surely was an intellectual gap that existed in the heads of curators and art theorists. Because mainly children were playing video games it was not considered to be anything serious. But things have changed (demographically and economically) and games are now in the process of being widely accepted as a form of culture and art.

Now there are GameArt exhibitions all over the place and many artists are drawing their inspiration from games. I dare say that our work remains special however, because our artworks are still fun to play, whilst most gameart-stuff is very theoretical and gameplay hardly ever exists…so in a way we are really bridging games and art!

Do you feel conventional games can function as art?

Yes!

What are the aims of fur?

World domination, legalize marijuana and make Shigeru Miyamoto president!

Which of your projects are you most happy with?

PainStation of course, because it makes us travel the world!

Can you explain what the PainStation is, and what it does?

It’s a two player table console that dishes out real pain to bad player’s. People have to place one hand on a so called “PainExecutionUnit” and play an enhanced version of the game “Pong”.

If one player misses the ball he gets a dose of punishment in the form of electricity, heat or a small rotating whip. The first player to pull back his hand looses. [A video of the machine in use can be found here]

What was the goal behind the PainStation, and do you feel you’ve met this?

The very basic goal was to make use of the electronic interface device that my girlfriend brought from USA and that was lying around for half a year. The artistic goal was to bring a more physical experience to computer games.

How do you feel the reaction to the PainStation has been? In particular, how does it feel to have won an International Media Art Award for your work?

We have always felt like the traditional art world considers our work as “child’s play”, so winning the price was quite an honor for us because it sort of proved that we have to be taken seriously! Hehe…

Finally, why do you think there’s such a fascination with the idea of a videogame causing physical pain?

It’s a completely new experience. The threat of being punished alone puts all your senses on red alert. Then there’s the back and forth of your opponent suffering, screaming while the next rally might cause some whipping and shocking on your side. It’s a constant change between satisfaction and punishment, fun and pain.