PS4. 2008. Interactive installation with modified PS2 game play.

About the work

"Kids in Congo were being sent down mines to die so that kids in Europe and America could kill imaginary aliens in their living rooms." - Oona King, former member of the British Parliament.

This project was initially inspired by investigative reports released in early 2008 concerning the decade long war in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), a war that has claimed millions of lives and has been fueled by a demand for natural resources such as coltan. Coltan is a mineral widely used in the electronics industry to manufacture tantalum for components such as small capacitors used in many of the devices we utilize in our everyday lives. For gamers, this includes laptops and video game consoles, including the immensely popular Sony PlayStation game console. PS4 is an interactive video and game play mash-up. The piece uses existing documentary video of conflicts around the world, including the conditions of war and coltan mining in the DRC and mashes them with live game play in the exhibition space. The piece intends to explore the politically alienating effects of gaming by detourning the game play experience and offering a politicized view of leisure activities.

Videos include: Congo's Bloody Coltan. The Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting. www.pulitzercenter.org The Fourth World War. A Big Noise Film. www.bignoisefilms.com Breaking the Silence. John Pilger. Bullfrog Films. www.bullfrogfilms.com

Games include: Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas Delta Force: Black Hawk Down Desert Storm II: Back to Baghdad