Artist Birthday: Pippin Barr (born 1979 New Zealand)

Contemporary video games, like those designed by artist Pippin Barr, are the direct descendant of the combination of film and artworks that occurred widely starting  in the late 1950s and early 1960s with the advent of Happenings (spontaneous art performances), the only documentation of which is via photographs or film. By the late 1960s, television’s impact as a major cultural phenomenon prompted the use of television imagery in works of art, both still and projected. By the mid-1970s, the genre advanced further by its appropriation of the new medium of video. Video artwork evolved throughout the 1980s and into the 1990s, when it was universally accepted as a fine-art form.

Artist Birthday for 7 April: Pippin Barr (born 1979 New Zealand)

Pippin Barr, Still from the downloadable (for free) video game v-r-3, available https://www.pippinbarr.com/2017/03/29/v-r-3/, 2017, video game, duration: 2minutes 34 seconds  Image courtesy of the Artist, © 2026 Pippin Barr (8s-30593)

The description that preambles Pippin Barr’s v r 3 video experience is: Water! Water! Everywhere! All Kinds! Best Water! Decent Water! Realistic Water! Manga Water! Mobile Water! Magic Water! But not a drop to drink! The long, low building image that begins the game admits the player into a warehouse-like gallery—a virtual museum of game aesthetics pertaining to water. The “exhibits” are in the form of square basins in rows that contain different digital interpretations of water from various video games and game creators. Barr includes effects such as reflective water, refractive water, wavy water, and still water. Placards on each basin give details about the effect, including—if applicable—the game/designer.

Background

Pippin Barr, born in Wellington, New Zealand, is a video game maker, educator, and critic. His games are a combination of his personal visual art and his incisive knowledge of programming. He received a Master of Science in user interface metaphors, and a PhD in video game values, both from Victoria University, Wellington. He is also associate director of the Technoculture, Art, and Games Research Center, part of the Milieux Institute for Arts, Culture, and Technology at Concordia University in Montreal, Canada. He is now an assistant professor in Design and Computation Arts at Concordia. He also writes a blog about video games (https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/PippinBarr/857216/).

In his numerous video games, Barr addresses a wide variety of subjects, including airplane safety and contemporary museum visits. An example of the latter was his collaboration with artist Marina Abramovic (born 1946) on her one-person performance work The Artist Is Present. Barr’s methodology in creating games includes an analysis of an amusing topic and its potential for interesting philosophical twists (for example, a game that satirizes video games that promote violence). He believes the most compelling aspect of his games is the nature of the interactivity. His work explores what it means to interact with video games and questions the very nature of games.

Barr admires Abramovic’s incorporation of the element of time in her work. He is also impacted by the work of British artist David Shrigley (b. 1968), whose art often takes on the structure of a joke. Barr also appreciates the intellectual and playful experimentation in the video games of Ian Bogost (b. 1976).  

Correlations to Davis programs: Experience Art, lesson 7.5