PROJECT'S BASIC

>“The making of Balkan wars: The game” is primarily based on a network created between artists, curators, theorists and people of the media mostly from the South eastern Europe; a network between people with different and often opposite social, political and religious beliefs but with a common interest in the particular geo-political region who contributed to the project with material as videos, texts, animations, photos and web projects.

>>The works submitted are one of the core elements of the project as they were actually called to provide alternate representations of Balkan History and Identity and were free to use parody, humour, detournement and irreverence to bring light to themes related to the Balkan Wars: the game. The aim was to put these messages said out in a continuous and constructive dialogue creating different virtual and real levels of conflict; a space of dialogue based on history and personal experience. The presentation and distribution of these work as well as the concept and the main ideas of “the making of Balkan wars: the game” was made possible through the following ways: the Balkan mall video game, the website of the project, the real space installation, the DVD’s and catalogues.

Multiple computers are connected to a network and each user is assigned a character (avatar), which the other users can see in the virtual space. The virtual space contains the videos, sounds, images and texts created by artists (as described above). Each player/avatar has the ability to interact with the other avatars by shooting or throwing various symbolic objects. The players can chat between them, using a specific chat box present on the interface of the game.

To log in, the player is asked to enter his nickname and then to proceed and answer a questionnaire. Then, he/she selects three words out of 16 words-choices in order to form his/her avatar. Depending on what the player chooses, he/she gets one of the 9 avatars that are available.

While the player explores the spaces, the factor of Balkanisation changes according to what the player is doing within the game. The Balkanisation factor alters depending on which video, animation or text the player is watching and how much time he or she is standing in front of them. Balkanisation’s balance is also influenced by the interaction between the avatars. The ideal is to maintain a balance between Balkanisation and De – Balkanisation (detachment). The player is informed about her/his level of Balkanisation from an indication on the interface of the game.

The project is ideally presented in the real space as an installation. A computer network is set up that hosts the multiplayer “Balkan Mall” video game (please see full technical information on the documents enclosed). Around this system and within the exhibition space the other elements of “the making of Balkan wars: the game” are displayed: video projections, computer animations, photos, posters, texts submitted by the participant artists and the website of the project.

An additional important feature is the real room, the development of a “cave” immersive environment that visitors can enter and navigate the place of the game with a joystick. In this space, the spectators as well as the computer users can select and project videos from the works of participant artists and become co-authors and co-curators of the work.

The presentation of the project varies depending on the space given and the hosting 
geographical region.

The DVD “The making of Balkan Wars: the game», includes a thorough presentation of the project, information on its origin, concept and theoretical background, samples of the “Balkan Mall” game, information on the works and their authors.

The catalogue is a special edition published in the frames of the project’s presentation in MediaLab Madrid which took place from the 10^th of February till the 14^th of March 2004. This four-colour edition includes information on the project, interviews, theoretical texts with reference to the project as well as photos and stills from the works.