Tuesday, October 23, 2007

fur Interview at Little Mathletics Workblog: The PainStation video game

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".


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."


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.


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