Flipping Coins

Kevin Buist describes Mitchell F. Chan's "Zantar" video game series, shown in the exhibition "Insert Coin(s)" at Nguyen Wahed in New York, as a parable about the false promises of crypto. The series includes Zantar, Overture, Moonboi and Ladyboss, which explore the blurring of play and work and how these boundaries create winners and losers. In Zantar, the camera slowly zooms out until the playable game shrinks into a tiny screen, mirroring Michael Snow's 1967 film Wavelength and reflecting the erosion of player choice. Chan plans to release the series on Steam under the title "Zantar and Other Stories."