[giantJoystick] is an almost three metres-high sculpture modeled after the 1980 Atari 2600 joystick.
The project invites users to play classic arcade games by collaboratively moving on and controlling the joystick, which becomes a social sculpture and territory for inter-personal communications.
The exaggerated scale of the installation emphasises the physicality (and absurdity) of interfaces in their relationship to the human body and human interaction.
Flanagan treats the joystick not as a mere access point to the virtual world on a screen, but highlights the joystick’s role in the physical world and the social nature of play.
Mary Flanagan lives and works in New York, where she investigates everyday technologies through critical writing, artwork, and activist design projects.
Flanagan’s work includes network art and game engine hacks to explore personal spaces in technology. Her work has been exhibited internationally at museums and galleries including: the Guggenheim Museum, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Gigantic Artspace, Artists Space (all in New York); ARCO (Madrid); and international media arts festivals.
