For the 35th installment of The Clothesline series curated by April Fullstone, Angelina Fasano, and Regina Martinez, they will be presenting an interactive installation by TJ Hughes(video game developer) and Daniel Burnett(visual artist). This Clothesline event
is particularly special because it will be hosted in the Screwed Arts Collective Studio and feature new work from several collective members. The Screwed Arts Collective typically only opens their door to the public once a year and have become notorious for hosting some of the best parties in STL inspite of their rarity of occurrence.

In a busy world, we tend to forget how much of a luxury food is. Nour is an experimental food art game that is here to remind you what it’s like to play with your food. You are presented with scenes full of ramen noodles, boba tea, popcorn etc, and you mash buttons to interact with the food in curious and unconventional ways. Nour will find you stuffing a bowl of ramen with oversized meat, launching absurd amounts of toast out of toasters, using telekinetic powers on boba tea, and questioning the ethics of putting a hoverboard in a meat grinder.

Preface by Daniel Burnett

I associate video games with qualities that are firmly juvenile - fantasy, indulgence, escape, etc. These same qualities are what originally attracted me to drawing, e.g. as a kid I mainly would copy comic book figures and such. Such juvenile and shallow fancies can become some of the best, though unlikely, materials to be elevated to the realm of meaningful practice. I believe that T.J. is performing this strange and wonderful alchemy with his Nour video game. In many respects it is an anti-video game - no winners, no objectives, nothing to solve, not hyper masculine, not catering to any specific gender, no violence, no escape in a fantasy self or avatar, etc. To me It’s really an experimental art piece in which people can interact with and expore a virtual world of the food and colors of T.J.’s interests.

I’m attracted to the presentation of a videogame because I have a deep love of the ideas, things, and people that are scoffed at and marginalized by institutions and the pseudo-intellectual(shout out to Susan Sontag). I love the elevation of things that would be written off as merely juvenile and ornamental, and I have seen far too many people find success by propping up flimsy product with a convoluted and dishonest subtext. 

Though I may not change what is possible in the art world, TJ and people like him will change the foundation of what is thought possible in the approach to videogames and how they’re played. This clothesline will provide an appropriate setting and immersive experience for Nour. My obsessive and cathartic practice is wonderful fuel to play the role of set designer and give a beautiful setting for TJ's practice.  

Daniel Burnett

What cements my practice is the lifelong pursuit of comfort and catharsis in the process of making and the positive reinforcement that i’ve found within the artistic community. I think that’s why I lean towards a maximilist approach, often lack subtlety, and enjoy collaboration. The end product reflects an obsession in detail, craft, and use of color. This obsessiveness is really a kind of meditation and emotional release, though the notion of extreme emotion is quite absent from my work. My paintings are most often described as fun and fanciful landscapes or geometric and psychedelic contructions. this disconnect between what I pour into my work and what the viewer percieves might be a flaw, but I’m not really sure to be honest. I'll be focusing on installation work for Pre§|Push and plan on going hard AF out of my deep reverence for the Clothesline curators and past artists.

TJ Hughes

I like bright, saturated colors, bassy electronic music, and absurdist humor. Born and raised in St. Louis, and I grew up playing Sega Genesis and Gamecube. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and Mortal Kombat II were the first games I remember playing, and since then, games have captured my interest as one of the most incredible, and widely unexplored creative mediums. I started making games when I was 13, after discovering the Unity game engine, and I started, Terrifying Jellyfish, a solo Independent Games/Interactive company started in 2014! Based in St. Louis, I made it my goal to create subversive games, interactive experiences, live visuals, and merchandise, all based around aesthetics and color theory. Over the months and years, Terrifying Jellyfish has become associated with sparkly bright colors, endearing absurdity, and positivity.