After taking in the exhibit "Grand Text Auto" at the Krannert Museum, I was struck by how old-fashioned it all seemed, though these artists/writers apparently consider themselves avant-garde. Much of this--narrative interactivity, randomly-generated texts, etc--has been done since the 1950s, as can be seen by this video of William S. Burroughs describing "cut-up" writing.
Cut-Ups from Matti Niinimäki on Vimeo.
The interactive computer game also seemed extremely old hat, the graphics primitive even by late 1990s standards, while the narrative was basically a soap opera that couldn't get going unless you assumed the role of an avatar and nudged it along. Lots of work, little reward.
The work in this exhibit appeared more like ancient artifacts than anything cutting edge--quaint examples of a by-gone age, in the face of the vast resources of (and audience for) interactivity on the web.
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