2003/2004
Anne-Marie Schleiner
OUT: Operation Urban Terrain
The Challenge to the Field Award for 2003/04 was granted
to Anne-Marie Schleiner for her project OUT: Operation Urban Terrain:
a live action wireless gaming urban intervention.
Project Description
OUT takes its name from MOUT a military term for Military Operations
in Urban Terrain. Many military simulation computer games implement
MOUT. For example, the US Army-developed game Full Spectrum Warrior
trains gamers in MOUT combat. OUT is a criticism of the increasing
militarization of civilian life which has been implemented in the
US and elsewhere since 911. The Patriot Act, surveillance of public
libraries, and the increased powers of government to hold citizens
in military custody without trial are instances of these increased
powers of government instigated by the Bush administration. In
an endless spiraling war of terror a government is at war with
its own citizens, with soldiers in the midst of the fabric of ordinary
life, as has been the case for a while in terror alert cities like
Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.
OUT is an artistic intervention in the public space of online games
and cities. OUT is also happening at a moment when the street has
again become a viable mode of expression. From Seattle to Cancun
activists are using wireless technologies and the web to organize
actions and congregate. Dada-like agenda-less mobs have appeared
in New York and spread to other cities, In contrast, police at
these events are increasingly high tech and cyborgean. They wear
the latest riot gear shields and padding and use high tech wireless
communication systems. They move in sophisticated crowd control
formations. OUT, on the other hand, is a high tech art intervention,
art activists with high tech gear and strategy. OUT of the closet
of MOUT.
Two women in gear are on the ground. One with a laptop and the
other with a projector pointing onto building walls in key locations
in the city. They are connected through a mobile wireless bicycle
to an online team of five game players located around the world.
They intervene on servers in a popular online military simulation
game with performance actions carried out by the whole team. The
live projections in the city can also be viewed through web cams
on the OUT website.
When: August 28th 2004
Where: New York City during the Republican National Convention--
Location One: Midtown, 5th Ave & 45th St., 10:00-10:15pm
Location Two: Harlem, 125th St. & St. Nicholas St., 11:15 -11:30pm
Location Three: Brooklyn, 1:00-1:20am Stay tuned for exact location
Post-performance talk: Anne-Marie Schleiner with Collaborators, Sept 2nd 2004,
7:30pm
The Upgrade! hosted by Eyebeam at Postmasters Gallery, 459 West 19th Street,
(at 10th Avenue), NYC http://www.treasurecrumbs.com/theupgrade
For more details on the project go to http://www.opensorcery.net/OUT/
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