Gamer Keyboard Wall Piece #2

Gamer Keyboard Wall Piece #2 is shown in the DocLab Exhibition.

Four years ago, video artist Sjef van Beers created the installation Gamer Keyboard Wall Piece #1, challenging the stereotype of the gamer as a withdrawn, socially awkward, and sometimes radicalized young man. Using the illuminated keys of a gaming keyboard as pixels, Van Beers created a text bar that gave voice to the inner world of the lonely NEET (a person not in education, employment or training): “There are endless worlds behind my screen but there is a cliff behind my bedroom door.”

In Gamer Keyboard Wall Piece #2, the artist goes a step further. The new installation places memes that have emerged throughout the history of internet culture alongside quotes from feminist theory. Through this juxtaposition, Van Beers uncovers online influences on contemporary adolescent masculinity.

Recipient of the Film Fund DocLab Interactive Grant 2025