Walter Langelaar / 2007 / Belgium

Walter Langelaar’s “nOtbOt” is a self-playing videogame; to be specific, it is a mechanized Logitech “Wingman Force” joystick that has its robotic maneuvers projected in real-time in front of it. In certain ways, Langelaar’s installation recalls the similarly automated works of Paul Johnson, but where Johnson’s games are vacuum-sealed, seen but not touched, “nOtbOt” allows viewers to actually grab hold of the controller. In the process of trying to, as Langelaar cleverly puts it, “get a grip” on the device, players confront their own metaphoric role in a feedback loop that no longer requires them – where the real object of obsolescence is not the technology, but the players themselves.