Varietas de Bry

Varietas de Bry is one of the most promising endeavours of the workshop organised with HEAD-Geneva in November 2016. Conceived by Mélissa Monnier and Elsa Schneider, under the supervision of Cassandre Poirier-Simon and Douglas Edric Stanley, this online tablet-enabled game blends a fun approach to cultural heritage with a deep dive into the visual cultures of the 16^th and 17^th centuries.

Gameplay revolves around “stowaway prints”—“gravures buissonnières” in the original French of the creators. Using a set of images depicting the great explorations of the Renaissance (gathered together and commented on in the “De Bry” constellation), the game asks us to spot “intruder” images, figures or characters taken from one illustration and inserted in others. This prompts players to familiarise themselves with the world of the original image, in order to identify an animal or object taken from another climate or culture! Once the intruder has been found, we continue our search in the print the intruder was originally taken from. The game ends when the cabinet of intruders is full.

 

In short, the experience of difference strikes us twice: firstly, in the difference of seeing white bears on Pacific islands, and then secondly, in the experience of delving into the Renaissance imagination several centuries after the fact.

A fun, simple and effective spirit drives the exploration of Renaissance prints down the smallest detail. We are surprised to find that we no longer know where we are, since the imagery associated with these distant lands in the past is different from our way of thinking of them. Through the game, we gradually learn to distinguish what would have seemed incongruous to Theodor de Bry’s contemporaries and what we, ourselves, find strange in an image.

 

In short, the experience of difference strikes us twice: firstly, in the difference of seeing white bears on Pacific islands, and then secondly, in the experience of delving into the Renaissance imagination several centuries after the fact.