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Joseph DeLappe | |
|---|---|
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| Born | 1963 San Francisco |
| Nationality | American |
| Occupation | Artist |
| Movement | Art intervention, Sculpture, Installation art, Video games as an art form |
Joseph DeLappe (born 1963) is a UK-based American artist and academic best known for his art intervention pieces that explore contemporary issues in politics through new media installations and interactive gaming performances.
A native of San Francisco, California, Joseph DeLappe graduated from Sacred Heart High School and went on to receive his Associate in Arts from City College of San Francisco followed by a Bachelor's in Graphic Design from San Jose State University as well as an MA Computers in Art & Design and a Master of Fine Arts in Pictorial Arts from the CADRE Laboratory for New Media. DeLappe directed the media program at the University of Nevada in Reno for twenty-three years and now works as a professor at Abertay University in Dundee, Scotland.
Joseph DeLappe has always worked in new media through which he expresses a distaste for power politics, [1] stating that when he got engaged in political art it defined his purpose. [2] DeLappe's 2006 intervention, Dead-in-Iraq, used an on-line game, America's Army , created by the US Defense department as a recruitment tool to memorialize the name and date of death for every US service member who died in Iraq, observing that America's Army was nothing but a sanitized metaphor to entice young people to enlist. [3]
In 2008, DeLappe merged on-line gaming, performance art and sculpture in a reenactment of Mahatma Gandhi's 1930 Salt March at Eyebeam Art and Technology, NYC and in Second Life, a virtual world and then recreating Gandhi (Cardboard Gandhi, 2008–2009) out of corrugated cardboard in monumental scale. [4]
The performance, "Quake," required six people connected to the same “Quake III Arena,” an online shooter server, to reenact an episode of “Friends.” Each performer would log onto the system as a character from the sitcom and type the performance in the messaging system of the game. The dialogue would be simultaneously typed in the messaging system and recited by the player. The performers were constantly killed and respawned to continue the performance. The first performance was conducted in the Digital Media Studio of UNR in 2002, and the second was in the Sheppard Fine Arts Gallery in 2003. [5] This is another instance, much like the intervention in “dead-in-iraq,” where DeLappe uses a computer game for cultural and political criticism. In this computer game, there are no real consequences of dying and the main objective is to kill as many people as possible. The slaughtering of the “Friends” characters as opposed to nameless users works to expose the shameful violence present in many computer games. [6]
Joseph DeLappe combines his knowledge of communications media, concrete materials and on-line gaming with political commentary – stating that games are a huge cultural phenomenon ignored by most of the art world, something he finds challenging. [2]
One of DeLappe's polygon structures, Taliban Hands depicts the hands of a Taliban fighter as depicted in the controversial video game, Medal of Honor. They were intended to creatively embody the complicity of gameplay. This game’s controversy stemmed from the user’s ability to play as a Taliban fighting against US troops. DeLappe created these during his residency in China in 2011. The hands were created by extracting 3D data from the video game for physical construction. [7]
In October 2014 DeLappe initiated the Rubber Stamp Currency Intervention. [8] He created a set of three stamps for the public to purchase and participate in this project. The three stamps consisted of a drone, a person holding their hands above their head, and a wave line. [7] The first stamp was in the shape of a tiny MQ1 Predator Drone called, “In Drones We Trust,” to stamp on the backs of bills in the empty sky over US monuments. These stamps were meant to respond to the drones the US had flying over enemy skies. “Hands Up Don’t Shoot” was the second stamp shaped like a man with his hands above his head. It was a response to ongoing police killings of unarmed black men. The third stamp in this collection was titled, “Sea Level Rising,” to represent the rising sea levels in response to the threat of climate change and rising seas. Participants would stamp one of the three, or a combination of the three, on paper money then put that money back into circulation after documenting the changes made to the bill. This project is still ongoing. [9]
His art practice also has a participatory aspect as demonstrated in his 2014 In Drones We Trust where he produced Predator drone rubber stamps that were intended to mark currency in a manner that people seeing the money would begin to think about the drones being used to target people in foreign countries. [10]
Killbox (2016), created with Malath Abbas, Tom DeMajo, Albert Elwin (as the Biome Collective) is a computer game that explores the cost and consequences of drone warfare. The work is a two-player game named after a military term, Kill box, for an area targeted for destruction. [11] The game, a winner of a 2016 Bafta award [12] expresses the inhumanity of drone strikes.
DeLappe was the Director of the Digital Media program in the Art Department of the University of Nevada, Reno until 2017 when he accepted the position of Professor of Games and Tactical Media at Abertay University in Dundee, Scotland. DeLappe was named a Fellow in Fine Arts by the Guggenheim Foundation in 2017. [13]
Machinima, originally machinema is the use of real-time computer graphics engines to create a cinematic production. The word "machinima" is a portmanteau of the words machine and cinema. According to Guinness World Records, machinima is the art of making animated narrative films from computer graphics, most commonly using the engines found in video games.
Quake II is a 1997 first-person shooter video game developed by id Software and published by Activision. It is the second installment of the Quake series, following Quake. The game's storyline is continued in its expansions, including one tying in Quake II and the first game, and Quake 4.
The General Atomics MQ-1 Predator is an American remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) built by General Atomics that was used primarily by the United States Air Force (USAF) and Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). Conceived in the early 1990s for aerial reconnaissance and forward observation roles, the Predator carries cameras and other sensors. It was modified and upgraded to carry and fire two AGM-114 Hellfire missiles or other munitions. The aircraft entered service in 1995, and saw combat in the war in Afghanistan, Pakistan, the NATO intervention in Bosnia, the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, the Iraq War, Yemen, the 2011 Libyan civil war, the 2014 intervention in Syria, and Somalia.
Information warfare (IW) is a concept involving the battlespace use and management of information and communication technology (ICT) in pursuit of a competitive advantage over an opponent. Information warfare is the manipulation of information trusted by a target without the target's awareness so that the target will make decisions against their interest but in the interest of the one conducting information warfare. As a result, it is not clear when information warfare begins, ends, and how strong or destructive it is. Information warfare may involve the collection of tactical information, assurance(s) that one's information is valid, spreading of propaganda or disinformation to demoralize or manipulate the enemy and the public, undermining the quality of the opposing force's information, and denial of information-collection opportunities to opposing forces. Information warfare is closely linked to psychological warfare.
A rubber stamp is an image or pattern that has been carved, molded, laser engraved, or vulcanized onto a sheet of rubber. Rubber stamping, also called stamping, is a craft in which some type of ink made of dye or pigment is applied to a rubber stamp, and used to make decorative images on some media, such as paper or fabric.
Agnes George de Mille was an American dancer and choreographer.
Video game art is a specialized form of computer art employing video games as the artistic medium. Video game art often involves the use of patched or modified video games or the repurposing of existing games or game structures, however it relies on a broader range of artistic techniques and outcomes than artistic modification and it may also include painting, sculpture, appropriation, in-game intervention and performance, sampling, etc. It may also include the creation of art games either from scratch or by modifying existing games. Notable examples of video game art include Cory Arcangel's Super Mario Clouds and I Shot Andy Warhol, Joseph Delappe's projects including "Dead in Iraq" and the "Salt Satyagraha Online: Gandhi's March to Dandi in Second Life," the 2004-2005 Rhizome Commissions "relating to the theme of games," Paolo Pedercini's Molleindustria games such as "Unmanned" and "Every Day the Same Dream", and Ian Bogost's "Cowclicker."
The Ace of Spades is traditionally the highest and most valued card in the deck of playing cards in English-speaking countries. The actual value of the card varies from game to game.
The Special Activities Center (SAC) is a division of the United States Central Intelligence Agency responsible for covert and paramilitary operations. The unit was named Special Activities Division (SAD) prior to 2015. Within SAC there are two separate groups: SAC/SOG for tactical paramilitary operations and SAC/PAG for covert political action.
Abertay University, formerly the University of Abertay Dundee, is a public university in the city of Dundee, Scotland. In 1872, Sir David Baxter, 1st Baronet of Kilmaron, left a bequest for the establishment of a mechanics' institute in Dundee and the Dundee Institute of Technology was formed in 1888. As early as 1902 it was recognised by the Scottish Education Department as an educational hub, and was one of the first to be designated a central institution, akin to an "industrial university". Abertay gained university status in 1994.
David John Braben is a British video game developer and designer, founder and President of Frontier Developments, and co-creator of the Elite series of space trading video games, first published in 1984. He is also a co-founder of and works as a trustee for the Raspberry Pi Foundation, which in 2012 launched a low-cost computer for education.
Tobias Bernstrup is a Swedish contemporary artist working with videos, interactive works, live performances and electronic music. He received an MFA from Royal College University of Fine Arts Stockholm in 1998, where he also met up with artist colleague Palle Torsson.
The General Atomics MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) capable of remotely controlled or autonomous flight operations, developed by General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) primarily for the United States Air Force (USAF). The MQ-9 and other UAVs are referred to as Remotely Piloted Vehicles/Aircraft (RPV/RPA) by the USAF to indicate ground control by humans.
Diary of a Camper is an American short film released in October 1996 that was made using id Software's first-person shooter video game Quake. The film was created by the Rangers, a clan or group of video game players, and first released over the Internet as a non-interactive game demo file. The minute and a half-long video is commonly considered the first example of machinima—the art of using real-time, virtual 3D environments, often game engines, to create animated films. The story centers on five members of the Rangers clan fighting against a lone camper in a multiplayer deathmatch.
Kathy Kelly is an American peace activist, pacifist and author, one of the founding members of Voices in the Wilderness, and, until the campaign closed in 2020, a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. As part of peace team work in several countries, she has traveled to Iraq twenty-six times, notably remaining in combat zones during the early days of both US–Iraq wars.
Since the Iranian Revolution in 1979, the Islamic Republic of Iran has been embroiled in tense relations with the U.S. and its allies. Following the overthrow of the American-backed Shah and a hostage crisis, both countries severed relations. Since then, both countries have been involved in numerous direct confrontations, diplomatic incidents, and proxy wars throughout the Middle East, which has caused the tense nature of the relationship between the two to be called an 'international crisis'. Both countries have often accused each other of breaking international law on several occasions. The U.S. has often accused Iran of sponsoring terrorism and of illegally maintaining a nuclear program, as well as using strong rhetoric against Israel, of which Iran has questioned its legitimacy and its right to exist while supporting Hamas, an antizionist group in the Gaza Strip. Meanwhile, Iran has often accused the U.S. of human rights violations and of meddling in their affairs, especially within the Iranian Democracy Movement.
Between 2004 and 2018, the United States government attacked thousands of targets in northwest Pakistan using unmanned aerial vehicles (drones) operated by the United States Air Force under the operational control of the Central Intelligence Agency's Special Activities Division. Most of these attacks were on targets in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the Afghan border in northwest Pakistan. These strikes began during the administration of United States President George W. Bush, and increased substantially under his successor Barack Obama. Some in the media referred to the attacks as a "drone war". The George W. Bush administration officially denied the extent of its policy; in May 2013, the Obama administration acknowledged for the first time that four US citizens had been killed in the strikes. In December 2013, the National Assembly of Pakistan unanimously approved a resolution against US drone strikes in Pakistan, calling them a violation of "the charter of the United Nations, international laws and humanitarian norms."
The Lockheed Martin RQ-170 Sentinel, nicknamed Wraith, is an American unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) developed by Lockheed Martin and operated by the United States Air Force (USAF) for the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). While the USAF has released few details on the UAV's design or capabilities, defense analysts believe that it is a stealth aircraft fitted with aerial reconnaissance equipment. Introduced in 2007, it was deployed to Afghanistan in late 2007, and to South Korea two years later, in September 2009. Some images and details of the aircraft were released after Iran captured an RQ-170 in 2011. It has a flying wing design, and uses a single engine, speculated to be either a General Electric TF34 turbofan or a Garrett TFE731.
Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga is an American new media artist who approaches art as a social practice that establishes dialogue in public spaces. Themes such as immigration, discrimination, gentrification and the effects of globalization extend from his experience and observations into works that tactically engage viewers through populist metaphors while maintaining criticality. He has said, "I have always felt very strongly that for art to matter its need to be socially relevant and exist outside of the gallery and museum amongst people at large."
As of January 2014, the United States military operates a large number of unmanned aerial vehicles : 7,362 RQ-11 Ravens; 990 AeroVironment Wasp IIIs; 1,137 AeroVironment RQ-20 Pumas; 306 RQ-16 T-Hawk small UAS systems; 246 MQ-1 Predators; MQ-1C Gray Eagles; 126 MQ-9 Reapers; 491 RQ-7 Shadows; and 33 RQ-4 Global Hawk large systems.
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