The Trickster and Urban Gaming

Fisher, Jean, "Towards a Metaphysics of Shit," in Documenta 11 Platorm 5 The Catalog, Ostfildern-Ruit: Hajte Cantz, 2002, pp. 63-70.

"Be My Controller, opening up the urban, button by button." Neural, Issue 30, Summer 2008, pp. 40-41

In this essay Jean Fisher presents the trickster as a strategy for the “repossession of a language of subjective agency” (63). Among arts many perceived functions is the agent of change that resists hegemonic power to bring about positive change. As a writer on contemporary art Fisher asks if art can perform this function which is a question I think many artists ask themselves. I remain fairly cynical on the matter. In saying that there is an art project that comes to mind when reading Fisher’s essay that I think relates to the trickster in interesting ways.

Fisher writes that to gain subjective agency an individual must “reclaim a sense off authority to act and to have action matter” (65). The actions of the trickster aim to play with power structures through humour and subversion. Another way she puts it is “gaming with the language of the institution” (69). I particularly like that one.

The Ludic Society project “Objects of Desire” stages a game in public space as a way of navigating the rigid structure of the city through the adoption of game rules. “Players” wander a city environment searching for tagged boxes using a Nintendo DS controller. The idea is that by following strict game rules viewers can unlearn the institutionally accepted rules of that urban space. The framework of a game, which is primarily designed for play and fun, gives the subject agency in that space with an interactive alternative. While the strategy of Fisher’s trickster seems to be rule-less injecting an oppositional rule set into a space is another way of acting out a social change. Interestingly, there is not much freedom of movement within the rule set which can result in a distancing of responsibility from ones actions. Following game instructions becomes an excuse or defence for behaviour that breaks social rules which can be liberating in its own right.