David Aston

ARTWORK DETAILS

David Aston
Attest you are human roll for humanity Brooklyn gamification
Instalation, happening, gamification, Brooklyn, New York
2018

FURTHER DETAILS

In 2018 I was awarded a special project by Saatchi Art to create a work of performance art 'gamification' for the Other Art Fair in Brooklyn, New York. Brooklyn: David Aston’s “Attest You Are Human” at The Other Art Fair Brooklyn

I wanted to understand and capture how visitors to the fair felt about living in an age of accelerated technological change and the increasing need to test their humanity in their on and offline interactions. Their attestations were later recorded as a book. Attest you are human (Brooklyn attestations)

I also wanted to give visitors the opportunity to play with the attest you are human concept so I designed a work of on and offline gamification. The work included the online attestation and an antique attest you are human gaming table, complete with attest you are human engraved dice and shaker. The game was exhibited in front of two large polyptychs of nine square canvases replicating the nine box grid of the reCAPTCHA.

The search for an appropriate gaming table ended after stumbling upon an 1864 print depicting the contest for the US presidency as a game of bagatelle. What could be more appropriate for a New York based gamification exploring the contemporary politics of human / technology engineering than a gaming table that is said to have set the historical stakes for the US presidency.

A a final “gesture of humanity” the first 50 visitors who completed the online attestation, reCAPTCHA and successfully rolled 6 humans with 3 rolls of the dice were given an original work of art.

EXHIBITIONS

2018 - Saatchi Art & Other Art Fair, Brooklyn, New York.