Artist Focus -- Pac Manhattan

In this collaborative project, a group of young adults organized efforts, costumes and rules to recreate the game of Pac Man in a real life setting. Essentially, one player donned a "pac man" esque costume, then entered the streets of Manhattan to "eat" all the "dots" of a predetermined section of streets and avoid being eaten by the ghosts, who were acted by 4 different players. The players active on the street are not acting of their own volition: they are given direction via walkie-talkie for direction and action by a remote player. This player is able to track the progress of the Pac Man on a gridlike map, seeing where he has gone and where he can go.

In a manner very similar to the game, contact with the ghosts would lose lives/the game, and reaching a certain point would allow the Pac Man to gain the ability to "eat" the ghosts. The act of "eating" things was modified in the real world setting by tagging (ie, a ghost tags Pac Man or vice versa). Instead of eating the "dot" that allows the Pac Man to eat the ghosts, the Pac Man touches the sign at the predetermined intersections on streets. The Pac Man does not exactly "eat" or tag dots as he travels through the street maze, but they are automatically deleted as he travels once over any one of the paths necessary for finishing.

While it is far from rare for me to get excited over a work of art, really interesting or stimulating works have been rather hard to come by at least in my previous experience in the New Media department... However, this work caught my interest and kept it. It was immediately attention-grabbing and clear in the message and motive (breaking the game out of the context of the screen) and actually had a readable sense of humor. All these things make for a rare combination.

But even so, can it really be considered a new media art project? Unlike most of the works discussed in this project, from music to interactive games and narratives, this work does not occur on the internet. The records of its occurrence are on the internet, sure, but the internet is not its natural habitat. The players don't live in the digital realm, either, but literally run around to complete the project. In most ways, I can see how this project would be considered a performance art piece. Let's not forget, however, that the project is wholly dependent on the use of technology in the hand-held screens and communication from player to Pac-Man. Without the communication, the work would be chaotic, slow, and relatively anarchistic... with the role of tracking devices and communicating devices, the work becomes most like the game. Not only is there a game board and moving, interactive pieces, but there is a controller who has omnicient control over the entire grid. This can only really be possible with the role of new media, which most solidly categorizes it as such.