Alpha 2.0, game-specific aim training routines for harpsichord and NES

(2024-25)

Alpha 2.0 situates the harpsichord within an audiovisual framework derived from early video game technologies. All visual material is generated from legacy video-games, and the accompanying sound world draws on 8-bit and chip-tune aesthetics rooted in historical hardware constraints.

(…) creating a kind of apotheosis of early Nintendo games in his work. (…) Alpha 2.0 wasn't a satirical piece or a cry for gamers to be liberated from their neglected caves. It was a vibrant fresco, where the harpsichord music and some of the electronics evoked Nintendo's pioneering games, their sounds, and their music with complete seriousness and a meticulous, almost humanistic tenderness. It was also menacing at times; after all, early Nintendo gamers often had the opportunity to participate in space battles. I remember the Ministry of National Education, where a day dedicated to "retro electronics" had me tearing my hair out in despair, even though it was very well-received by progressive critics. This wasn't the case here. Hugo Morales Murguía wasn't flaunting kitsch, nor was he joking in an ironic, ribald way. It was more of a tribute to the dawn of our times, and I loved it.

Jacek Tabisz, Polish Rationalist Association. May 2025

Commissioner: Goska Isphording (PL/NL)

Duration: 11 minutes