27ac Simony : MOCA Jacksonville | Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville

Already played in the Atrium?
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Is glory and achievement something you earn, or something you buy? Is it more right (or more righteous) to ascend to a rank or office on the merits of your actions than on the influence of your connections, or the sway of your bank account? For that matter, which offices are worth earning (or buying) in the first place?

Players who encounter Ian Bogost’s Simony installed in the MOCA’s Haskell Atrium will enjoy the full experience—ascending a ten foot dais in the cathedral-like gallery to play the game on a lone, hallowed iPad. In this context, the game’s additional themes become apparent: the relationship between technology and religion in a secular age, and the uncomfortable ambiguity between virtue and vice, merit and acquisition in institutions of all kinds.

But players also have the opportunity to make literal their symbolic experience of buying or earning office. At the end of the exhibition on March 10, 2013, whoever is currently ranked among the top ten players worldwide—whether through play at the museum installation or in the App Store edition of the game—will form the Jury of Ten.

This jury will be invited to enter the inner sanctum of the museum. There, they will choose how to spend the proceeds generated by the game on the museum’s behalf.

There are many possible interpretations of this charge. The jury might decide to commission a new work. Or to acquire one. Or to host an event. Or to distribute the proceeds in a startling and unexpected way. Or something else entirely. They might decide to support more videogame art, or they might conclude that such works are a distraction from more urgent cultural opportunities. What would you do? Or, if you’re one of the contenders for the Jury of Ten, what will you do? Weigh in below.
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