Mi Gesto Final (2015) HD video, 09:00 min.
Axel Stockburger’s contribution to the twelfth Havana Biennial is a video piece entitled Mi Gesto Final. The video was shot in the countryside outside Havana and relates to the Cuban computer game; La Gesta Final. In this first-person shooter, players can experience the Cuban revolution from an individual perspective. The video piece consists of tracking shots through dense jungle, grasslands, and mountain forest, while the audio consists of accounts, from different players, of their (virtual) experiences of the revolution. Mi Gesto Final engages with the meaning of the history of the Cuban revolution for contemporary young Cubans and asks how historical events are mediated by digital games. It is precisely the historical character of an event such as a revolution that stands in stark contrast with the perpetual repetition of actions in a computer game. In this sense the piece opens up a space for the negotiation of the possibilities of radical political action within technological and cultural frameworks characterized by digital simulation.
The video is presented by four people with tablet-PCs and headphones, who offer these devices to the audience and thus enable a very private and individual viewing experience. This form of presentation is conceptually informed by the current system of digital media dissemination in Cuba, called “Pakete”, where individuals share data via hard drives and flash media.
Credits
Based on the computer game La Gesta Final © 2012 Joven Club de Computación/Evima
Concept/Direction/Editing: Axel Stockburger
Production Assistance/Translation: Edisabel Marrero Tejeda
Actors: Marlon Nieves Rios, Raidel Llovet Vasconcelos
Javier Pérez Cedeño, Alessandro González
Steadicam Operator: Ronin Novoa
Sound Postproduction: Kai Maier-Rothe
Colour Grading: Andi Winter
Subtitles: Emilia López
Camera Rental: Puntilla Films / Claudio Pairot
Transportation: Renier Polido
Thanks to: Ursula Maria Probst, Karin Zimmer, Gerlinde Paschinger, Johann Lurf, Nikolaus Gansterer, Jorge Fernandez Torres, Margarita Gonzalez Lorente, Nelson Herrera Ysla, Jose Manuel Noceda Fernandez, Margarita Sanchez Prieto, Ibis Hernandez Abascal, Dannys Montes de Oca Moreda, Jose Fernandez Portal, Jorge Luis Rosell Llanes, Brishty Alam
Funded by: Embajada de Austria en Cuba, Bundeskanzleramt / Kunst
Mi Gesto Final (2015) HD video, 09:00 min.
Axel Stockburger’s contribution to the twelfth Havana Biennial is a video piece entitled Mi Gesto Final. The video was shot in the countryside outside Havana and relates to the Cuban computer game; La Gesta Final. In this first-person shooter, players can experience the Cuban revolution from an individual perspective. The video piece consists of tracking shots through dense jungle, grasslands, and mountain forest, while the audio consists of accounts, from different players, of their (virtual) experiences of the revolution. Mi Gesto Final engages with the meaning of the history of the Cuban revolution for contemporary young Cubans and asks how historical events are mediated by digital games. It is precisely the historical character of an event such as a revolution that stands in stark contrast with the perpetual repetition of actions in a computer game. In this sense the piece opens up a space for the negotiation of the possibilities of radical political action within technological and cultural frameworks characterized by digital simulation.
The video is presented by four people with tablet-PCs and headphones, who offer these devices to the audience and thus enable a very private and individual viewing experience. This form of presentation is conceptually informed by the current system of digital media dissemination in Cuba, called “Pakete”, where individuals share data via hard drives and flash media.
Credits
Based on the computer game La Gesta Final © 2012 Joven Club de Computación/Evima
Concept/Direction/Editing: Axel Stockburger
Production Assistance/Translation: Edisabel Marrero Tejeda
Actors: Marlon Nieves Rios, Raidel Llovet Vasconcelos
Javier Pérez Cedeño, Alessandro González
Steadicam Operator: Ronin Novoa
Sound Postproduction: Kai Maier-Rothe
Colour Grading: Andi Winter
Subtitles: Emilia López
Camera Rental: Puntilla Films / Claudio Pairot
Transportation: Renier Polido
Thanks to: Ursula Maria Probst, Karin Zimmer, Gerlinde Paschinger, Johann Lurf, Nikolaus Gansterer, Jorge Fernandez Torres, Margarita Gonzalez Lorente, Nelson Herrera Ysla, Jose Manuel Noceda Fernandez, Margarita Sanchez Prieto, Ibis Hernandez Abascal, Dannys Montes de Oca Moreda, Jose Fernandez Portal, Jorge Luis Rosell Llanes, Brishty Alam
Funded by: Embajada de Austria en Cuba, Bundeskanzleramt / Kunst