Creative Coding

My body of work has very serious undertones in dealing with substantial issues. I strive to create work that can be related to but not to be comfortable with. However, I have found myself being more playful in the medium at hand. DATA is a robot made within HTML5 Canvas that has allowed me to do just that. For this project, I wanted to work through some aggression, pain, and anxiety towards our current president. By utilizing DATA I was able to poke fun at the nonsense spewed out of Trump in a very light-hearted manner. The seriousness of our country’s fate needs some humor surrounding it. Many people talk about President Trump and poke fun, many disagree with his positions, and most cannot stand his blatant lies. We must rely in our own resilience.

This project allows the audience to giggle a bit. There are many distinct features I assembled to emulate Trump and his presidency that may not be considered deliberate choices, maybe they are not even noticed, but they are. For instance, the beginning sprite iteration is one that shows DATA gliding across the screen and putting on a wig and nametag that reads “Trump”; our president is no better than a fake robot. He does too much on a whim and relies on everyone around him to give him the knowledge he needs while making irrational decisions. The game is played for a specific amount of time and in order to win one must have the microphone a specific distance from Trump. To win the game in the first round is exceptionally hard, yet still possible, because our president never stops talking in some form of media/social media. He may start slower but he catches up quickly and is always nearby. When the game ends the user sees a Tweet of Trump either boasting or complaining. Losing the game means the audio will not turn off and the user is forced to keep listening. Replaying the game causes the functions to double up and Trump moves more erratically with each restart. There is also a fatal error included in the game if users are able to maneuver it.

This project is great for those that also need to quell some poor thoughts. It gives the user a way to reflect on the current state of affairs without being bombarded with absolute, ugly truths, or maybe it is and people will be annoyed. It is also great for those that walk on the other side of the line that is keeping this country divided. It, hopefully, can bring people together to laugh no matter their ideology.