June 2010, the
ears are numbed by the cacophony of vuvuzelas in the crowded South African
soccer stadiums. What’s happening on the field is what does justice to the idea of
GAME. Yet, such formalised games are often only a mild version of the kind of
games that are played out in the human arena of political, social, personal and
business games, agendas and encounters. These games are ongoing; there’s plenty
at stake and much tug of war.
During the 1960s, game theory became a popular study of the way
in which human beings operate and compete especially in the fields of computer
science, politics, agriculture and economics. Game theory has proven
instrumental in understanding how and why decisions are made. Games People
Play (1964), a groundbreaking pop
psychology book by Eric Berne,
introduced the notion of such human gaming based on Freud's psychodynamic model,
particularly the ego states, as a psychology of human interactions called
“transactional analysis”. According to Berne, games are ritualistic transactions or behaviour patterns
between individuals that can indicate hidden feelings or emotions. In a general
sense it can be argued that human encounters involve mind games in which people
interact through a patterned and predictable series of “transactions” that are
superficially conceivable, but sometimes could mask hidden agendas. Berne
(Butler-Bowden
2007)
came to the view that within each person were three selves or
"ego states"
which
often contradicted each other. They were characterized by the attitudes and
thinking of a parental figure (Parent); the adult-like rationality, objectivity
and acceptance of the truth (Adult); and the stances and fixations of a child
(Child). The three selves correspond loosely to Freud's superego (Parent), ego
(Adult) and id (Child). Berne (Butler-Bowden 2007) further argued that we
teach our children all the pastimes, rituals and procedures they need to adapt
to the culture and get by in life, and spend a lot of time choosing their
schools and activities, yet we don't teach them about games, an unfortunate but
realistic feature of the dynamics of every family and institution.
The book spawned a well-known song by the same title written, composed and
performed in 1968 by singer/song-writer Joe South.
During the eighteenth century, a game called “stag hunt “was
developed by philosopher Jean-Jacques Rousseau. This game, also known as the
assurance game, involves making a choice between individual safety and risky
cooperation and involves the idea that two hunters who must decide whether to
hunt a hare alone or a stag together.
'Arguably, the stag hunt describes the
ethical dilemma of the scientists who built the atomic bomb. Roughly: The world
would be better off without the bomb, but we have to try to build it because our
enemy will. Better we have the bomb than our enemy; better both sides have the
bomb than just our enemy'
(Poundstone [s.a.]).
In an interview with Arthur Holmberg, Milan Kundera (1985)
stated: '
… playing games is an important source of pleasure. Real life is
linked to a series of deceptions. It disappoints us with its futility. But when
we consciously play games, as on stage, we already know that the game is not
serious. Thus, the tragic futility of life becomes the joyous futility of play.
In totalitarian regimes one quickly learns the importance of humor. You learn to
trust or mistrust people because of the way they laugh. The modern world
frightens me because it’s rapidly losing its sense of the playfulness of play.'
The playing of games can provide various satisfactions: aggressive and
masochistic; expectant readiness with contempt of danger and consequent
mastering of situations; repeated endurance of symbolic castration with
resurrection of potency when one wins (Stokes 1956).
Accordingly, the
“games” people play form the core of the subject matter in the works on display
in Games people play.
The artworks on exhibition comment on the playing of games through a patterned
and often predictable series of “transactions” that might not be superficially
conceivable, but mask secret motives, feelings or emotions. Similarly, there are
many word games, echoed in the game of the "language" of the artwork that is
open-ended and often cloaked in metonymy. The philosopher Wittgenstein maintained that words have a
“family” of usages and resemblances: the word “game”, for example, could
indicate board games, card games, virtual gaming or soccer games. Such games do
not hold a single critical mutual attribute, but rather possess common
characteristics and similarities.
Elfriede Dreyer.
Sources quoted
Butler-Bowden, T.
2007. 50 Psychology Classics: Who We Are, How We Think, What We Do:
Insight and inspiration from 50 key books.
Nicholas Brealey Publishing, 2007 . [O] Available:
http://knol.google.com/k/games-people-play#. Accessed 14 June 2010.
Poundstone, W [s.a.].
Excerpts from Prisoner's Dilemma. [O] Available:
http://www.heretical.com/pound/staghunt.html.
Accessed 14 June 2010.
Stokes, A. 1956.
Psychoanalytic Reflections on the Development of Ball Games, Particularly
Cricket. International Journal
of Psychoanalysis.
XXXVII:185-192.
Kundera, M. 1985.
Interview with Arthur Holmberg. Performing arts journal, Volume 9,
1:25-27.
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Fried Contemporary Art Gallery & Studio
Website updated on
2012/01/04
