Aluta Null, South African Game, XR Developer and Digital Artist

Aluta Null (they/she) is a digital artist and game developer based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Aluta works in a variety of mediums including XR and games to create work that tackles topics surrounding technology, politics, perception, and pop culture. Through a glitchy (and sometimes irreverent) lens, Aluta aims to use technology and the Internet to create and share interactive, interesting, and more accessible experiences of their artistic visions. Null largely uses media to provide commentary, express ideas, and address issues that are often ignored by many people, ultimately hoping to elevate the mundane.

Aluta Null’s Johannesburg upbringing and observations of contrast and tension in the city have inspired their interest in portraying ideas of difference in their work, through imagining extreme and non-existent concepts and creations. Visually and aesthetically, Null’s work showcases many punk ideals and aesthetics, irreverence, and “trippy” or absurdist imagery.

“As an Internet enthusiast, most of my work exists online. I am inspired by retro cyberspaces, and broken and old gadgets, by virtue of my yearning for eras and technologies that existed before my interest in appreciating them. One of the things I call myself is a serial experimenter. I’m constantly just playing, there’s really no other word I can use to describe my process. I guess that might also come from my background in game design and the need to constantly think about what “play” means – not only for the person playing a game but also where the interaction between the designer and system is concerned — and these interactions also being a space for playing around.”

Aluta graduated from Wits University with an honors degree in Digital Arts, majoring in Game Development and focusing on Volumetric Filmmaking during their honors year. Interactivity is not Aluta’s sole digital pursuit – still images, collages (digital and traditional), illustrations, 3D modeling, digital zines, and videos (animation, film) make prominent appearances in Aluta Null’s catalog of work. However, Null’s Game Design background has made much of their creative practice largely focus on interactive media and digital art, done through games, XR, and Internet coding.

𝘏𝘈𝘗𝘗𝘠 𝘍𝘖𝘖𝘋 is a 2021 piece of AR art created by Aluta Null for their 𝘗𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘛𝘖𝘔 (2021) exhibition. 𝘗𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘛𝘖𝘔 is an XR digital art project by Aluta Null, showcased in a solo exhibition at Bubblegum Gallery at Transwerke in Johannesburg. 𝘗𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘛𝘖𝘔 uses a combination of extended reality and physical artworks and installations to explore the dark, scary world of mental illness. It is a project about the complexity of non-tangible and non-visible constructs and realities concerning our minds.

This video is an extended rendition of 𝘏𝘈𝘗𝘗𝘠 𝘍𝘖𝘖𝘋. 𝘏𝘈𝘗𝘗𝘠 𝘍𝘖𝘖𝘋 parodies the nature of 1990s TV infomercials. Replicating this genre of media necessitated utilizing the vintage TV as the video’s AR target. Accompanied by subtitles, the infomercial advertises a breakfast meal-kit marketed as “happy food” – a euphoric meal designed to treat depressive disorders and uplift moods. A remedy for nothingness. The faceless instructor performs a step-by-step demonstration of the meal’s preparation. The first step calls for an “attractive-looking” cereal. Before long, the meal is stripped of its façade as a credible and innocent mental health aid. A lethal concoction of alcohol and unidentified pills dominate the mood-altering recipe. A sales telephone number (011-HELP-ME) and the promotion of a bundle purchase deal conclude the dangerous commercial. 𝘏𝘈𝘗𝘗𝘠 𝘍𝘖𝘖𝘋’s absurd depiction of substance abuse and self-harm is my way of spotlighting addiction and destructive coping mechanisms as mental health battles. 𝘏𝘈𝘗𝘗𝘠 𝘍𝘖𝘖𝘋‘s creation was one of the catalysts for my ongoing 𝘋𝘌𝘈𝘋 𝘛𝘏𝘐𝘕𝘎𝘚 practice. The production of the work featured in 𝘗𝘏𝘈𝘕𝘛𝘖𝘔 took place at the Bubblegum Gallery studio space under Bubblegum Club’s artist residency program.