isthisit? issue 3, 2017
168 pages / Full colour printing / Perfect bound

isthisit? issue 3 (2017) includes artworks from Aaron McCarthy, Alan Butler, Alexandra Ehrlich Speiser, Anastasia Semenoff, Andy Nizinskyj, Aram Bartholl, Benjamin Warner, Bertie Irons, Brent Watanabe, Calum Bowden, Christina Smiros, Claire L. Evans, Dani Ploeger, David Blandy, David OReilly, Duncan Herd, Ellie Power, Emily Godden & Audit Chaos, Eva and Franco Mattes, Felix Treadwell, Fengyi Zhu, Gabriel Junqueira, Gabrielle Noel, Georgie Roxby Smith, Georgina Tyson, Gerhard Mantz, Harun Faroki, Henry Driver, Ian Cheng, Ian Malhotra, Isa Magalhaes, Jason Rohrer, Jon Haddock, Joscha Steffens, Joseph DeLappe, Kara Gut, Kasem Kydd, Katy Roseland, Klara Vincent-Novotna, Lawrence Lek, Lee Boötes, Liv Preston, Lucas Glenn, Marta Strazicic, Mathew Zefeldt, Matteo Bittanti, Max Colson, Mélanie Courtinat, Michael Pybus, Miyö Van Stenis, Ololade Adeniyi, Pete Jiadong Qiang, Petra Szemán, PucciSethCnxion, Raúl Berrueco, Roc Herms, Sandra Araújo, Second Front, Sian Fan, Silvia Dal Dosso, Stacey Davidson, Stefan Schwarzer, Tea Strazicic, Theo Triantafyllidis, Thomson and Craighead, Todd Deutsch, Tom Kobialka, Valentin Dommanget, Viktor Timofeev, Will Kendrick, Willem Weismann, fleuryfontaine and tissue.hunter, interviews between Jakob Kudsk Steensen and Bob Bicknell-Knight, Georgie Roxby Smith and Matteo Bittanti, Ped.Moreira and PACTO, alongside essays by Olly Bharat, Oliver Payne, Elliott Burns, Kent Sheely, Frances Kelly, Mathias Jansson, Motsonian, Samuel Capps and Hannah Nussbaum.

The third issue of the isthisit? book is composed of artworks, essays, interviews and one podcast, with the overriding theme being virtual worlds, the excessive violence surrounding video game debate and discussion, particularly in the online sphere, alongside video game aesthetics and ideas. In August of 2014, the now infamous movement dubbed Gamergate was born, the controversial campaign concerned issues of sexism and progressivism in video game culture, stemming from a harassment campaign conducted primarily through the use of the hashtag #GamerGate. Within the movement several prominent female figures working within the gaming industry were targeted, particularly game developers Zoë Quinn and Brianna Wu, as well as feminist media critic Anita Sarkeesian.

The third issue of the book considers the constructed worlds that we choose to inhabit, the power of video games as an interactive medium, the heteronormative face of stereotypical video gaming and the aesthetics and ideas associated with machinima based art practices.

isthisit? issue 3 was launched on the 7th December 2017 in conjunction with the exhibition It doesn’t take long to find new targets at The Take Courage Gallery, London, UK.