Coin_Pusher

A coin pusher arcade machine simulated in Unreal Engine using 3D models extracted from Nintendo games. The work ran on a computer that restarted daily, starting each day with an empty field. Coins and objects fell into the canvas with a preset randomness, creating a unique composition each day. All elements that enter the composition have their own properties — weight, rotation speed, proportional relationships — and can interact with each other (pushing others out of position).

The role of the artist is not to compose a single precise visual outcome (as in painting) but to establish rules that can lead to multiple visual results. Chance is deliberately built in, so the process of making can still produce surprises.

The video work became a room-filling installation: physical sculptures of the coins from the animation, prints of their texture maps. Against the window of the SWSWS69 gallery space hung a contactless payment terminal. Viewers could tap their card or phone to trigger a special sequence — thirty seconds of extra coins and objects raining into the canvas, for €1.

3D object models sourced from online archives maintained by game fan communities who preserve assets from aging hardware. The objects carry cultural weight — they are recognisable from games many people grew up with.