"In Observation Partie Pissante, we find ourselves suspended, facing the succession of comings and goings that streamers engage in during their necessary breaks. While we witness what happens when players are AFK (Away From Keyboard), we remain there, attentive to what continues to exist on the screen: the "waiting" avatars or the exchanges of other players through voice chat. The material and intimate environment of the players takes center stage, reflecting our position as viewers. It is an ambivalent position for those who are not playing but are not AFK either, a true spectator of the most mundane movements.
Because what Nicolas Bailleul shows us is the superimposition of online and offline life threads, merging into a single reality, generating moments of essential inertia in our daily lives."
Text by Lorena Lisembard, curator and commissioner of the exhibition "Back From AFK" in March 2022 at Poush Manifesto, Paris.
