Freud-Lissitzky Navigator: A 20th-Century Computer Game Prototype Reconstructing Avant-Garde History
The Freud-Lissitzky Project is focused on creating a legendary computer game, with plans to share a playable version once it is finished. This initiative, spearheaded by Lev Manovich, Norman Klein, Luke Matjas, and Mark Daggette, was released on September 19, 1999. The Freud-Lissitzky Navigator delves into cultural history through gameplay inspired by historical events, notably a fictional encounter between Sigmund Freud and El Lissitzky in 1928. Although Sergei Eisenstein suggested a film walkthrough, his techniques conflicted with spatial continuity. In 1961, Steve Russell developed Spacewar at MIT. A filmmaker captured Russian tanks in Prague in 1968, while a Hungarian programmer attempted to create a game prototype in the 1980s, but U.S. publication efforts fell through after 1989 due to financial issues.
Key facts
- The Freud-Lissitzky Project reconstructs a 20th-century computer game prototype.
- It was published on September 19, 1999, by Lev Manovich, Norman Klein, Luke Matjas, and Mark Daggette.
- Freud-Lissitzky Navigator combines software interfaces like databases and hypermedia with gameplay based on historical narratives.
- A fictional 1928 meeting in Vienna involved Sigmund Freud and El Lissitzky discussing psychoanalysis and architecture.
- Sergei Eisenstein contributed film ideas, engaging with Moholy-Nagy at the Bauhaus and Edwin Link's flight simulator.
- In 1968, a French New Wave filmmaker shot footage of Russian tanks in Prague for a film about Mao's China.
- A Hungarian programmer created a game prototype in 1988 based on discovered notes, but U.S. publication failed after 1989.
- Disney designers incorporated elements from the prototype into Euro Disney, now Disneyland Paris.
Entities
Artists
- Lev Manovich
- Norman Klein
- Luke Matjas
- Mark Daggette
- Sigmund Freud
- El Lissitzky
- Sergei Eisenstein
- Moholy-Nagy
- Edwin Link
- Steve Russel
- Tatlin
- Picasso
- Soutine
- Lenin
- Mickey Mouse
- Stalin
- Mao
Institutions
- ARTMargins Online
- MIT
- Bauhaus
- Institute of Psychoanalysis
- National Library
- Disney Imageneering
- Euro Disney
- Disneyland Paris
- U.S. Army
- U.S. Navy Simulation Division
- Sony Playstation
- University
- Hungarian art history journal
- American game publishers
- Fluxus
- International Press Exhibition
- Soviet Pavilion
Locations
- San Diego
- Los Angeles
- Camarillo, CA
- Santa Barbara
- Vienna
- Austria
- Cologne
- Germany
- Dresden
- Berlin
- Paris
- France
- Brussels
- Belgium
- Prague
- Czech Republic
- Stockholm
- Sweden
- Hungary
- Mitte
- Hollywood
- United States
- China
- Russia
- Coney Island
- Montparnasse
- Camarillo
- California
Sources
- ARTMargins —
- ARTMargins —