[Filip Hauer is a digital artist and researcher whose work focuses on exploring the speculative potential of digital games. He is currently a PhD student at the New Media Studio I. at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. His projects deal with themes such as game exchange, ideology, allegorithms, labour and xeno-games. With a focus on critical play and player agency, he seeks to challenge and question the communicative practices commonly found in popular games.]
I consider art to be a language. In my art practice, I explore possibilities of the language since I believe it provides insights into structures of contemporary society, and individual and collective experiences. In recent years, I mainly focus on digital games for their increasing role in socio-economic politics.
My artistic strategy is to reflect the communication practice of popular digital games. In general, these games communicate certain values and beliefs through their algorithmic rules. We may imagine these rules as normative systems. In my art, I aim to subvert the rules and common practices of games to build new futures.
I consider both art and games to be political. So, in turn, I pursue a political approach with post-work and socialist goals that should help the audience critically reflect on their individual experiences as well as investigate collective situations. As part of my Ph.D. project Dreaming About Work at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague, I am focusing on the themes of labour and post-work as a way of creating a better future in the context of contemporary crises.
