Nathan Beard's New Horizons
After the lockdown-mandated closure of his Firstdraft exhibition, White Gilt 2.0, Perth-based interdisciplinary artist Nathan Beard, like millions of players across the globe, escaped to the parallel world of Nintendo’s popular new video game, Animal Crossing: New Horizons.
Nathan Beard and his Nintendo Switch. Photo: Firstdraft
For the uninitiated, New Horizons is a life simulation game developed and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch. It is the fifth title in the popular Animal Crossing series, and was released in March 2020 – achieving a popularity whose virality was eerily reflected in the COVID-19 pandemic forcing entire nations into lockdown. In it, players assume the role of a customisable character who moves to a deserted island, which over time they develop into a community inhabited by a motley crew of anthropomorphic citizens.
Shortly after the early closure of his Firstdraft exhibition, and just before the commencement of nationwide lockdown restrictions, Nathan began quietly plotting the third (or, rather, second-and-a-half) incarnation of his White Gilt series inside a game that, as of writing, has been played by over 13 million self-isolating users around the world.
In celebration of the in-game International Museum Day holiday (18–31 May), Nathan will open his island, Slovetzia, to visitors wishing to attend his new exhibition, White Gilt 2.5. Ahead of the premiere, we spoke to the artist about the intersection of his art practice and gameplay, the top 5 destinations for island visitors, and what it means to inhabit not just a new horizon, but a cultural moment.
Nathan Beard’s avatar Né Né inside White Gilt 2.5, 2020, installation view, Slovetzia. Courtesy the artist.
Firstdraft: Nathan, thank you so much for inviting us into your world! Before we see your exhibition, can you tell us about your newest horizon?
Nathan Beard: My island Slovetzia is named after the fictional country in the movie The Beautician and the Beast, which was essentially a cinematic retread of The Nanny set in an Eastern European country on the precipice of political and social unrest. From my perspective it’s a movie with a marginal cult following based purely on the strength of The Nanny’s cultural legacy but I thought it would be fun to use a fictional country to try and give me some conceptual parameters to the terraforming and decoration of my island. The cinematic vision of Slovetzia is pretty nondescript apart from being vaguely European so that’s been a fairly flexible starting point. Remarkably I’ve clocked over 200 hours of gameplay which is embarrassing because everything feels incomplete… which I guess is accurate considering the film it’s winking at.
“New Horizons filled a gap in my life during social distancing which would have normally been spent in a studio working towards other deadlines that suddenly had a sense of precariousness about them.”
FD: Where does Slovetzia end and your practice begin?
NB: It’s been interesting to reflect on how Animal Crossing: New Horizons filled a gap in my life during social distancing which would have normally been spent in a studio working towards other deadlines that suddenly had a sense of precariousness about them. I was able to channel creative anxiety and despair into repetitive tasks that gained a greater sense of accomplishment the more I went on, which to be honest is not too far removed from a lot of the material processes of embellishment in my practice anyway.
“White Gilt 2.5 also technically operates from a domestic ARI, so is it really that different as a model of presentation for my work?”
Nathan Beard, White Gilt 2.0, 2020, installation view (detail), Firstdraft. Photo: Zan Wimberley
FD: In your practice, you often draw upon your Thai-Australian heritage in order to unpack the influences of culture, memory and biography. In your words, your work “asks what it means to search for and create an authentic sense of identity out of a connection to intimate, personal histories and cultural heritage.”
Can you talk about how this approach in your IRL practice has been reflected in your gameplay?
NB: Recreating my exhibition at Firstdraft in the context of Animal Crossing felt like an honest way to approach the legacy of my show and my attitude towards my practice in the context of the pandemic. Being so easily and quickly absorbed by the saturation of online content around the game (through memes, TikToks, Youtube island tours, Artforum articles, customisable designs shared on the V&A’s’ Twitter) made me want to reshape my own work within a cultural zeitgeist that carried an actual sense of urgency for me. As far as I’m concerned these two iterations of White Gilt still approach the same themes questioning cultural authenticity and cultural anxieties, just from different perspectives. White Gilt 2.5 also technically operates from a domestic ARI, so is it really that different as a model of presentation for my work?
Nathan Beard, White Gilt 2.0, 2020, installation view, Firstdraft. Photo: Zan Wimberley
FD: Are there any particular ways of thinking, being, or creating that you’ve discovered or have been emphasised through this period of confinement that you’d like to transfer to your post-lockdown life or art practice?
NB: If I can display the same daily commitment and rigour to simple chores relevant to my artistic practice that I’ve nurtured being holed up in this game then I’ll be unstoppable. It’s actually very nurturing and encouraging to accept a feeling of accomplishment from performing the simplest of these daily grinds in Animal Crossing, so it’ll be nice to apply this to my currently neglected studio life so that the return to work doesn’t feel so overwhelming or insignificant in the serious light of everything that’s continuing to go on.
Nathan Beard’s avatar Né Né inside White Gilt 2.5, 2020, installation view, Slovetzia. Courtesy the artist.
“It’s actually very nurturing and encouraging to accept a feeling of accomplishment from performing the simplest of these daily grinds in Animal Crossing”
Nathan Beard’s avatar Né Né inside White Gilt 2.5, 2020, installation view, Slovetzia. Courtesy the artist.
“As far as I’m concerned these two iterations of White Gilt still approach the same themes questioning cultural authenticity and cultural anxieties”
FD: On Saturday 30 May, you’re going to open up your island to visitors. What are the top 5 destinations on Slovetzia that visitors should see next week?
NB: If my home represents the Firstdraft of Slovetzia, then my museum area would be the Art Gallery of NSW, so make sure you take a look at the newly renovated landscape around there, complete with an outdoor museum cafe. If the exhibitions gallery at the museum looks empty it’s because a lot of the artefacts there have been repatriated, so it truly is a utopia. The waterfall landscaping leading to the museum and the campsite also took an obscene amount of trial and error to get right so it’s worth a look. My favourite villagers live near me so make sure to visit them (especially Blaire the squirrel) on your way to see White Gilt 2.5 in the upstairs room of my island home.
My market square will have a stall set up where reproductions of work featured in the exhibition can be commissioned, and by that I mean I’m happy to share the custom design codes with anyone who wants to place these recreated works on their islands too. I’ve also put too many hours into growing purple flower hybrids to simulate the use of orchids in White Gilt 2.0, so any help in watering my flower garden would be really appreciated.
Nathan Beard, White Gilt 2.0, 2020, installation view, Firstdraft. Photo: Zan Wimberley
“If the exhibitions gallery at the museum looks empty it’s because a lot of the artefacts there have been repatriated, so it truly is a utopia. ”
On Saturday 30 May, Nathan Beard will open Slovetzia to Animal Crossing: New Horizons players. If you would like to visit his island and attend the premiere of White Gilt 2.0, sign up at the link below and we’ll share visiting hours and details in the days leading up to the opening.
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