CASSIE MCQUATER
WORK: Angela’s flood, 2020.
TECHNICAL DETAILS:
Single-channel video, screen recording of HTML work. 12 minutes, 57 seconds
Description: Cassie McQuater uses digital media to build alternative worlds in which accepted narratives are reimagined. Angela’s Flood, based on the central panel of The Garden of Earthly Delights, is a paradise designed for female video game characters, a joyful space which subverts the violent, sexist tropes often associated with gaming.
The title derives from the work’s protagonist, Angela Belti, a muscular fighter from the Power Instinct series (Atlus, for Arcade, 1993) whose appearance challenges the retro game stereotype of svelte, scantily-dressed women. Sprites including sea creatures, tiny elves and insects come together in this utopia contained within 2000 lines of HTML code. At Matadero Madrid, Angela’s Flood is presented on two television screens, enabling viewers to experience different scenes from the video work at the same time.
Biography: Cassie McQuater (Detroit, USA, 1987) creates interactive narratives that call out stereotyping, celebrate imperfection and question our relationships with stories, software and each other. Originally trained in painting, McQuater received her BFA from the University of Michigan School of Art & Design in 2009. Attracted to collage, narrative and the idea of creative exchange with her audience, McQuater taught herself to code and started working in interactive media and video games in 2013.
Open access is important to McQuater, who makes her games available online for free. Her artwork has been exhibited worldwide, including at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, and New Museum, New York. She has also received prestigious awards including the Independent Games Festival Nuovo Award (2019), the Rhizome micro-grant for net.art, and Lumen Prize Moving Image Award (2019).
Single-channel video, screen recording of HTML work. 12 minutes, 57 seconds
Description: Cassie McQuater uses digital media to build alternative worlds in which accepted narratives are reimagined. Angela’s Flood, based on the central panel of The Garden of Earthly Delights, is a paradise designed for female video game characters, a joyful space which subverts the violent, sexist tropes often associated with gaming.
The title derives from the work’s protagonist, Angela Belti, a muscular fighter from the Power Instinct series (Atlus, for Arcade, 1993) whose appearance challenges the retro game stereotype of svelte, scantily-dressed women. Sprites including sea creatures, tiny elves and insects come together in this utopia contained within 2000 lines of HTML code. At Matadero Madrid, Angela’s Flood is presented on two television screens, enabling viewers to experience different scenes from the video work at the same time.
Biography: Cassie McQuater (Detroit, USA, 1987) creates interactive narratives that call out stereotyping, celebrate imperfection and question our relationships with stories, software and each other. Originally trained in painting, McQuater received her BFA from the University of Michigan School of Art & Design in 2009. Attracted to collage, narrative and the idea of creative exchange with her audience, McQuater taught herself to code and started working in interactive media and video games in 2013.
Open access is important to McQuater, who makes her games available online for free. Her artwork has been exhibited worldwide, including at the Smithsonian American Art Museum, Washington, and New Museum, New York. She has also received prestigious awards including the Independent Games Festival Nuovo Award (2019), the Rhizome micro-grant for net.art, and Lumen Prize Moving Image Award (2019).
︎︎︎LINKS
︎ @cassiemcquater
︎︎︎ Website
︎NAVE 16.MATADERO ︎︎︎07 OCT—27 FEB
