Techno-balero, 2000

San Diego-based artist Roman de Salvo created a project for inSITE2000 that followed his line of tongue-in-cheek works while at the same time cleverly pointing at issues of relevance and depth in contemporary culture and society. Using the balero, an iconic, inexpensive Mexican toy most often bought by tourists visiting Tijuana, de Salvo created the simulation of a high-tech video arcade game. With elements high and low coming together, de Salvo installed three Techno-balero stations in a typical downtown Tijuana market where one could play the baleros by manipulating a joystick that moved a mock “video” screen or a low-tech blinky image, showing the balero being played. As participants would successfully win each time the game was played, chimes connected to the joystick would ring in the background.

Curators: Susan Buck-Morss, Ivo Mesquita, Osvaldo Sánchez, and Sally Yard
Venue: Pasaje Gómez Market, Tijuana

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