LO – 11

For this week’s looking outwards focusing on Women Practitioners, I decided to research into Angela Washko, who ‘is an artist, writer, and facilitator devoted to creating new forums for discussions of feminism in the spaces most hostile toward it.’ I thought that because she purposefully works in realms and topics of feminism and is currently a tenure-track Assistant Professor of Art at Carnegie Mellon University, it would be especially appropriate for this week’s prompt.

I looked at her project The Game: The Game, which explores and presents the issues and circumstances present around the practices of male pickup artists, which is then presented in the format of a dating simulator. It provides an interesting and female centric look at the social constructs of dating and the systematically dangerous and manipulative implications of the culture. It provides a very interesting look into the language and social formalities of ‘pick-up’ culture and its psychological/predatory implications.

I really liked the way she chose the explore the topic through a somewhat morbid lens without holding back or romanticizing the issue, particularly because dating simulators tend to over-romanticize certain behaviors that the audience as a whole could do to become more critical of. The interactive quality of the game brings another layer of immersion into the game as well, illustrating how well the medium supports the topic/issue that is being presented.