Flipping Coins

"This time, the game was Pax Pamir: Second Edition (2019), an hours-long strategy game by renowned designer Cole Wehrle, in which players compete to influence the nineteenth-century battle between Britain and Russia for control of Afghanistan, which was then known as "The Great Game." The dense, political board game was a considered choice by Chan-an artist whose previous works, from conceptual NFT projects to video games, have explored the dark corners of history, finance, and the contemporary attention economy."

"All of the works are games about games in the sense that they refer to one another, providing information about the narrative world they share. They're also games about games more broadly, as they explore the cultural and economic power of the game industry and the psychological power of games over players. These works also deal with the dangers of the pump-and-dump fervor that animates the crypto industry, which increasingly is echoed in global finance more broadly."

An artist hosted a session playing Pax Pamir: Second Edition, a complex strategy board game simulating nineteenth-century British and Russian contest over Afghanistan. The artist's exhibition presented interconnected video games that reference one another and a fictional playable retro game, Zantar, whose gameplay awards a fictional cryptocurrency, BeBeCoin. The works examine the cultural and economic power of the games industry and the psychological influence games exert on players. They also critique crypto-era pump-and-dump dynamics and their echoes in global finance. The exhibition framed social events like board-game sessions and pickup basketball as alternatives to standard art-world receptions, blending play with political and financial commentary.

Read at Artforum