Ahmed El Shaer

An old, 2003, American video game entitled Command & Conquer: Generals has been dismantled to its basic alphabets and restructured into an alternative and more personal narrative. The initial game teamed the United States of America with China against a radical terrorist fundamentalist organization. The USA played in blue, China in red, and the terrorist group in green.

The choice of green was not a coincidence. The Egyptian Orthodox Church and Egyptian Sufi shrines have long been associated with the color green in their fabrics and decorations. Today, in many urban landscapes in the Middle East, the clear visible marker at night is the green neon lights that decorate mosque tops. The sacred symbol of the color in the local Middle Eastern culture is undeniable.

Referring to the digital code of a well-known Atari game, whose images are made by eight bits only (which by all standards are considered today archaeological), the artist corrupted the information to create a personal narrative: his “hero” is a digital insect, easily accessible at Radio Shack, capable of reproducing the authentic anatomy and movement dynamics of the real bug. Here it is aimed at animating manipulated digital information.

In such a way, nature, which is also typically referred to by the color green; the actual insect; its electronic avatar, war games, and holy symbols find a new and disturbing synthesis.