Freeze

Freeze.

Anyone who has ever seriously played with 8bit videogames knows the supreme frustration of finding her/himself locked somewhere, running around the same old corner, unable to jump the evidently-too-large hole on the right while incapable to proceed on the left because of the deadly snake-pit. The action freezes, the timer slowly runs out. Game over. Itπs snowing in the East Village, year 2004. You are pretty well dressed to be a pixellated, angular little man. You leave an after all enviable East Village flat. Very cold today, SUVs and CarService sedans roll by while you walk around with no particular intention, snowflakes slowly falling down. You can talk to people, shovel snow... or get into some doors, but you probably wonπt find exactly what you expected. Unless you expected to wander by burning book pyres, oil spills, deserted churches. Shoveling snow is apparently all you can do to keep yourself busy. Up in the sky, snow comes to an unexpected life as it turns into enigmatically crisp images from the daily press. Passerbys add to the twisted neighborhood mediascape by broadcasting chunks of news and incohesive/ incoherent bits of information. The few getaway doors offer moments of solace: the church and the burning book pyres have an almost painterly quality and invite you to take a break, think, realize. But the oil spill and following oil-filled pool... thatπs where it happens once again. You can jump in the oil-filled pool, of course (why not?). Enjoy the perfect silence and the quirkiness of this apparently meaningless action, take a deep, poisonous breath and extend your break from the information overload thatπs snowing outside there, in the streets of EV(il). But breaks shouldnπt last forever, and this recess is where the Freeze will happen once again. The point of no-return is right there, for you to find out as you desperately try to get the hell out clicking right, left, up and down all at once. Average Shoveler (2004-2005, by Carlo Zanni) is a tight, symbolisms and technology-filled piece. It lives at the intersection of videogames, movies and information tools. It resounds of the clash between the retro, Leisure Suit Larry- inspired videogame environment and the realism of the overwhelming images and snippets of news (the internet-provided ≥snow≤) that you are condemned to shovel over your head. Weπre all bound to die. After all, a videogame is a much better place to do it than many others. I loved the way Carlo reminded us of this universal truth during his slightly gloomy appearance in the ≥8bit≤ documentary, where Average Shoveler was featured. Sitting in a shadowy East Village studio, his English-with-an-accent reminding to a since then thoroughly pleased and hip audience that yes, his pixellated creation had an end and a limit in death, just like real life.

_Marco Antonini