Continuing with my theme of using game elements and tools to create artworks I created this project "Marked" (aka "Marked for Destruction"). This project came about after much investigation into locative media and GPS related artworks.

While the game Unreal Tournament (2004) was being played I was collecting the positions of every player. I wanted to re-create the level using only areas that had been walked upon... disgarding areas which were not utilised.

In essence I was taking what could be considered as GPS data and using it to effect the environment it was taken from. After attending GPS workshops and and seeing the current trend in this area, I felt that what was lacking in the work I was seeing was actually physically effecting the places that have been marked by these virtual waypoints. Re-creating the levels in the game essentially destroyed them, and the game took on a new persona, with the original aims of the game were removed.

The next stage of the project was to make these virtual waypoints effect our own environment. I wanted to physically map the games environment onto our own, while attempting to keep some of the games characteristics. I would have liked to have created something like "earth signature" by Pierre Comte or "Surrounded Islands" by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Something that monumentally effects our environment in the way that in Unreal the position points effectively destroyed most of the level.

I ultimately settled for tethered helium balloons to demonstrate how our environment can be effected by positional data. The balloons re-produced the sense of gameplay and retained a feeling of movement and action due peoples interactions with them. The balloons were positioned outside in a residential area.

Even with simple balloons the environment had in effect been destroyed as its function is no longer apparent.