Country of Origin I

a 3d-animated conceptual adventure game

computergame, 2007

You are in a computer game in which you have to find the essence of time and space.

You could be tempted to think this quest is in vain, because you think that questions are more important than answers. But you are in a computer game.

Games have solutions for they consist of puzzles. And as Thomas Kuhn says, although intrinsic value is no prerequisite for a puzzle, the assured existence of a solution is!

Eric Schrijver wrote this 3d-animated conceptual adventure game for the Eindhoven based independent publisher Onomatopee. It was is published as part of Onomatopee #12, the a la recherché du temps artist series. In this series artists endeavour their position within space and time. Country of Origin I is made possible with support of the NBKS.

April 21-March 4, 2007
A la recherche du temps
De Hermitage, Helmond
May 12, 2007
Villanuts Interactive Playground
Paard van Troje, The Hague
June 9 & 10, 2007
EDIT festival
Strijp-S, Eindhoven
Exhibition of the publication.
June 14, 2007
VoorStelVoor
DCR, The Hague
August 18, 2007
Visionaere Festival
Club der Visionaere, Berlin
October 3—5, 2008
Square Eyes Festival
CBKA, Arnhem
Screening of Country of Origin.

You see a screencapture of a computer game in the late 1980ies style of Leisure Suit Larry. It's an adventure game, which means that puzzle solving has the main focus, not dexterity. The player interfaces with the game by walking the character around with the arrow buttons on his keyboard, and subsequently typing in actions like ‘talk to man’. This particular game seems to be very heavy on conversation, and you have difficulty in keeping up with the texts that flash on the screen. The video lasts .

↓zip↓ ↓txt↓ ↓mov↓ →vimeo→

computer game
You see a screenshot from the computer game, in which the protagonist is standing on a deserted city square. To his north you see a church, and to his right a bar and a bicycle.
screenshot
You see a screenshot from the computer game. You see a large hall, in the corner of which the protagonist is standing; he faces another person. The text ‘>talk art roland’ is visible in the input field, at the bottom of the picture.
screenshot
You see a picture of an industrial space, apparently used as an exhibition site for visual art. A computer is visible in the foreground, upon which you can make out the same screenshot you just saw. Behind the computer, out of focus, you see a person in shorts leaning towards a tall person who stands up straight.

↓jpg↓ →flickr→

country of origin I exhibited in the artist’s initiative DCR, which is also featured in the game.
c-print
You see the front and back cover of the user manual of the computer game. Because you see both at the same time, you can see that the green shape on the front cover is part of a grass field. The lettering informs you of the title of the game, the name of it’s author, and the publisher. The typography is constructed from letters apparently used in the computer game. Now you see an inside spread, in which you can more accurately make out the size, which is roughly A5. The page is in full colour, and combines screenshots, illustration, and a detailed explanation of the workings of the game, in this case the commands used for talking and thinking.

↓pdf↓ →issuu→

user manual
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dat wilde wout sonder genade
mixed media installation, 2006
performance, 2007