As a sometime contributor to Frieze Magazine I get sent lots of press releases about art exhibitions. I can't usually do much with them, but this one immediately caught my eye. Young British artist Emily Allchurch has just opened a show at Frost & Reed Contemporary in London entitled, Urban Chiaroscuro. It's a selection of photographic transparencies digitally compiled from dozens of the artist's own snaps and organised to resemble the series, Carceri d'Invenzione (Imaginary Prisons), published by master Italian etcher Giovanni Battista Piranesi in 1749.
When I first saw the image above I was struck by how much it resembled a piece of videogame level design: the gothic architecture, the use of shadowing to add definition and atmosphere, the multi-levelled platforms and staircases. Interestingly, Allchurch adds contemporary elements to the original etchings - lager cans, CCTV cameras, street signs. Her aim is to suggest a 'claustrophobic climate of fear - and indeed the prevalence of the technology of surveillance' - both themes of level design in dark adventures like Half-Life and especially Bioshock (which also merges period architecture with modern technologies).
Anyway, here are some more of the images. I think they're all eminently deathmatch-able. I'm not sure what the artist would make of this observation.
