“What if you were locked in an art museum overnight, with a rocket launcher, during a Jeff Koons retrospective?” asks Hunter Jonakin, the creator of the Jeff Koons Must Die!!!! video game.
His installation, currently on exhibition at Berlin’s KW Institute’s FIRE AND FORGET: ON VIOLENCE, allows visitors to virtually live this violent hypothetical. The classic 1980’s style stand-up arcade cabinet features a shooting game where players can aim at Jeff Koons pieces with a rocket launcher. Gamers ultimately battle Koons and his cohort of curators until the player is wiped out.
Jonakin described the piece as “a blunt, corrosive affront on the art world,” in an interview with GameScenes. Traversing the art world can be “daunting and alienating,” Jonakin explained.
“From a conceptual standpoint, I like the idea that navigating the art world can be seen as playing a game.”
The game is notably unwinnable, which serves as a comment on the fine art studio system, which, in Jonakin’s eyes, is stacked against the artist.
The title “FIRE AND FORGET” comes from a military term for weapons that are launched from a distance and do not require personnel to fire directly at the enemy. This exhibit, with works by Marina Abramovic, Harun Farocki, and many others, aims to explore the effects of modern technology. Jonakin’s piece does just that, as it showcases the stealthy integration of technology into our consciousness. “Much of my work serves to highlight this phenomenon and to call attention to the sometimes overlooked proliferation of digital media into our lives,” he explained. This “interactive satire” undoubtedly provides some comic relief to the shows haunting message: technology allows us to emotionally detach from the consequences of violent acts.
Jeff Koons Must Die!!!!’s Berlin appearance, on display until August 30, is just in time for Koons’ current retrospective which is now on view at the Whitney Museum in Bilbao, Spain. If you’re up for a Euro trip, you can hit both exhibits in one go. No pun intended.
