“The Fashioning of the Land: A War and Game Artifice” By Dana Hargrove.
The International Journal of the Arts in Society, Volume 1, Issue 5
The apparently innocent space that is in fact strategically systemized within our land-based existence is an interesting paradox that I enjoy exploring. This paper reviews a recent body of work that investigates mapping, gaming, and the military and how each of these abstract to control our experience of the land. Three artworks are discussed in detail: GolfWar a series of 18 paintings, WarGame an installation of paintings and Tactical Gaming a site-specific installation. The artifice that fashions the land and frames our perception is layered and multifaceted; I look at the relationship between war and game and promote further connections between larger entities such as nature and culture where struggles occur as we alter the land in which we live.