Pokerface, 2003

by d3ms collaborative

created Pokerface #1 as part of Office Space: Art Onsite 2, in the spring of 2003. Office Space took place in a vacant office building in downtown Tel Aviv, Israel. The show was loosely based on the theme of “manager’s games” – the small distractive objects often found on a typical desk in an office environment.

The five members of d3ms played poker for 2 hours on March 16th, just days before the start of the war in Iraq. It was the first in an extended series of poker games. For this piece the video camera was mounted directly above the table, documenting our game play. The resulting video and audio was featured in Israel as a projected video and sound installation.

Using red, white and blue chips, our game considered the circumstances of that particular geo-political moment – days prior to a war of choice that still rages on today. The resulting video documentation is of the performative act; images that manifest the desire to do that which we don’t want to give away. Calling the bluff, gambling, high and low stakes, competition, war, money. Uncertainty is heightened by the differing skill levels in our group – one had never played poker – naivete, fumbling forward, drinking, and the act of collaborative gaming as performance. Are we, as citizens, playing out our best poker face?

d3ms collaborative are from Reno, Nevada. The group has been engaged in a series of site-specific, temporary engagements in non-traditional locations. d3ms are: J. Damron, Joseph DeLappe, Russell Dudley, Laurie Macfee and Tamara Scronce.

Visit the group’s web site for futher information and a history of projects:

http://www.d3ms.net