IVELIN MEZA
¡¡Zombies en la Prensa Nacional!! (Zombies in la Prensa Nacional!)| Arcade col. Prensa Nacional, Mexico State| April 10th, 2011
Doing some research on the way that collective identity is built and reaffirmed in a “bedroom colony” like Prensa Nacional, located in the borders of Estado de Mexico and Mexico City, I started from the intention of creating a videogame about this place, to develop a workshop where some children who lived there could question and socialize some troubles they wanted to share. Through talking we came to the agreement that it would be a zombie attack the way for expressing the increasing violence in the area, but that would also be an excuse to walk through their shops, houses and other meaningful places. The intervention consisted on the presentation of the videogame “Zombies in Prensa Nacional”, where the main character must rescue his neighborhood from these creatures helped by the powers he obtained in specific and recognizable placer: the statue of the virgin, the food stall, the pool hall, etc. The final product was installed in an arcade piece of furniture in an arcade premise in the neighborhood. The game achieved a total identification that could be recognized in the possibility of recognizing what was their own (“This is my house! It’s here!”), recognizing the other ( here is the butcher of “el Guero”!), imagining what could not be seen due to the perspective ( “My girlfriend lives behind that building! Her house is here”), imagining what we wish for (“ I believe that if we make more levels of the game, like ten, we can get to my neighborhood”), getting together and reconsidering that the space that is daily dwelled is essential for building our identity.