Sun Clock by Olle Essvik Sweden
Eurogame by Mare Tralla Estonia/UK
Threshold artspace, Perth Concert Hall, Horsecross, Mill Street, Perth
Exhibition runs 1 - 31 October 2006. Open daily from 10 am for up to 14 hours. Admission Free.
Related event Olle Essvik: Artist�¢ï¿½ï¿½s Talk, 11 am, Wednesday 11 October 2006, Dundee Contemporary Arts Cinema, 152 Nethergate, Dundee. Admission Free but ticketed.

Download Sun Clock for your mobile phone

Threshold artspace at Perth Concert Hall continues its year long exhibition Players, showcasing the best in art games and sound toys. During October, Players introduces two new pieces, Mare Tralla’s Eurogame and Olle Essvik’s Sun Clock. Players has helped establish the Threshold artspace as the only public gallery in the UK with a consistent, year round programme dedicated to this emerging genre of contemporary art. The art games showcased as part of Players are interactive projects designed by independent artists who probe the possibilities created by digital platforms. The works introduce new meanings and messages; forge technical and aesthetic innovations and sometimes subvert the standards imposed by the mainstream gaming industry.

Dubbed “Estonia’s Tracey Emin” by critics, Mare TrallaÃ�¢ï¿½ï¿½s works often tackle issues of identity. For Players, Mare was invited to revisit and update her ongoing work Eurogame, initially commissioned for the British Airways web site. With Europe continually changing and growing, her Eurogame takes on a new significance. Humorous and engaging, Mare’s art game starts with an outline of the map of the European continent. Scattered around the edges are the shapes of the various countries, as defined by their international borders. Visitors to the artspace can drag these pieces and try them for fit, like in a jigsaw puzzle. If one successfully gets all the countries in the right place, the game moves to a new level. While partaking in the re-mapping of new Europe, visitors can reflect on the continued existence of nationalism and borders within Europe, both physical and cultural.

Threshold artspace’s other new exhibition for October is Olle EssvikÃ�¢ï¿½ï¿½s Sun Clock, which tracks the sun’s movement in the sky. Sun Clock is a live Internet intervention which allows visitors to follow the sun as it rises and sets over Perth in real time, each day throughout October. The black and yellow bands of the work represent the sunÃ�¢ï¿½ï¿½s presence in the sky as a slow motion abstraction. You can also download Sun Clock for your mobile phone from the artist’s web site:
www.jimpalt.org/sunclock

Players is presented by Horsecross and curated by Iliyana Nedkova (Horsecross Creative Director New Media). Olle Essvik’s Artist’s Talk is organised by Horsecross in partnership with the University of Dundee and Dundee Contemporary Arts. This talk is fourth in a series of Threshold artspace off-site events in partnership with the University of Dundee. Previous talks featured artists Dan Perjovschi, Paul Farrington, Thomson & Craighead.