gamescenes

Event: "Game Play" Art & Videogames (Tate Britain, London, Friday 5 March 2010)

 
 Gaming culture takes over Tate Britain. From low-tech parlour games Charades and Werewolf, to performance and interactive media art with Blast Theory's Can You See Me Now? Plus talks from presenters of Resonance FM’s One Life Left Ste Curran and Simon Byron, and experimental music from David Toop and Unknown Devices: The Laptop Orchestra - it's all to play for.

A few highlights: 

Game Play: Can You See me Now? (Friday 5 March 2010, 18.30–21.30)

Artists' company Blast Theory has created a game happening simultaneously online and in the streets surrounding Tate Britain and Chelsea College of Art and Design. Players online and on the Manton Foyer computer terminals are chased by the Blast Theory runners, tracked by satellites on a virtual map. The audio stream from their walkie talkies allows you to eavesdrop on your pursuers: getting lost, cold and out of breath on the city streets.

Link: Can You See Me Now? @ Tate

Can You See Me Now? Tokyo from Blast Theory on Vimeo.

Video Games: design, narrative, gameplay (Friday 5 March 2010, 19.30–20.30)

How do game design, narrative and gameplay interact to make a successful video game? Ste Curran, game designer and Creative Director at Zoe Mode chairs a panel including, creator, writer and artist Charles Cecil, game critic Kieron Gillen and co-creator of Watchmen, Dave Gibbons

Link: Video Games: design, narrative, gameplay @ Tate

David Toop and Unknown Devices: The Laptop Orchestra (Friday 5 March 2010, 19.30–20.00; Friday 5 March 2010, 20.45–21.15)

David Toop and Unknown Devices: The Laptop Orchestra (London College of Communication) explore the dynamics, technical and interpersonal demands of group collaborations using digital audio tools and ‘unknown devices’, creating an improvisation using an unusual variety of instruments, noisemakers and gaming equipment.

Link: David Toop and Unknown Devices: The Laptop Orchestra @ Tate

Event: "Tools, Trash & Technology" Marque Cornblatt, A 25-Year Art and Design Retrospective (March 10 - April 4, 2010, The Legg Mason Tower, Baltimore)

Tools, Trash & Technology

Marque Cornblatt, A 25-Year Art and Design Retrospective

March 10 - April 4, 2010

The Legg Mason Tower 
Harbor East on the Circle
100 International Drive 
Retail Suite 102
Baltimore, MD  21202

"This 25-year retrospective represents Cornblatt's return to exhibiting on the East Coast and his first major exhibition in Baltimore.  The show includes interactive web-based robots, sculptures, video installations and conceptual self-portraits spanning Cornblatt's career, as well as recent projects dedicated to do-it-yourself lifestyle and design.

From the very first Sony Watchman to portable DVD players, no technology is off-limits to Cornblatt's creative eye.  Using found objects, broken toys and re-purposed electronics, Cornblatt creates sculptures that challenge ideas about the relationship between technology and the self.  His recent use of videogames and virtual reality to digital self-portraits offers a glimpse into the future of hyper-mediated identity.

Cornblatt's will also be presenting the Sparky project, his pioneering interactive videochat robot.  First shown in 1996, Sparky has evolved from an assemblage of mixed parts into a worldwide network of telepresence robots capable of connecting people face-to-face in real time over the internet.

The gallery will be furnished with examples of Cornblatt's handmade design and housewares, including cardboard furniture, metal and glass tables, candleholders, chess sets and object d'art made from scrap metal and other recycled materials.   

Cornblatt will personally be in the gallery each afternoon, offering hands-on demos and opportunities to operate the robots."

Link: Tools, Trash & Technology

Event: "Texture Maps" (Feb 12 - March 14 2010 @ Nest, The Hague, Holland)

 
 

"Texture mapping is a method for adding detail, surface texture (a bitmap or raster image), or color to a computer-generated graphic or 3D model. Its application to 3D graphics was pioneered by Dr Edwin Catmull in his Ph.D. thesis of 1974." (Wikipedia)"

"Texture Maps" is the title of a ground-breaking exhibition opening on Feb 12 at Nest Gallery in The Hague, Netherlands bringing together a series of artists directly inspired by video game aesthetics. The stellar line-up features Eelco Brand, Robbie Cornellisen, Robert Overweg, Rafael Rozendaal, Oscar Stegehuis, and Michiel Van Der Zanden. The unique ensemble and the variety of the artworks on display makes "Texture Maps" a must see for 2010.

 
Eelco Brand, "Heuvels", 2006, 110 x 178 cm, pigmented print 

 
Eelco Brand, "Land", 2007, 100 x 150 cm, pigmented print 

Link: Texture Maps

Link: Rafael Rozendaal's FromThedarkPast (2009) 

Related: Michiel Van Der Zanden

Related: Robert Overweg

Related: Oscar Stegehuis

Event: Wafaa Bilal “Agent Intellect” (Jan 21 - April 5, 2010, The Helen Day Art Center, Stowe, Vermont).

"Wafaa Bilal: Agent Intellect" is the title of a new exhibition organized by The Helen Day Art Center located in Stowe, Vermont. The event focuses on Iraqi-American artist Wafaa Bilal ouevre. Among the artworks on display are “Domestic Tension” and “Virtual Jihad”, the most explicitly game-based pieces. For “Domestic Tension” Bilal locked himself up at FlatFile Gallery in Chicago and acted as a human target in a bizarre paintball game. Visitors on Bilal's homepage used a webcam mounted on a paintballand shot him for days. This performance was meant to draw attention to the ongoing troubles in Iraq, a country shattered by mass killings, terrorist attacks, snipers, and suicide bombers.

The installation also raises questions about the blurring between virtual and real violence. How far would users go on the internet? If they had stood face to face with Bilal in the gallery, would have they behaved in the same way? Domestic Tension was described by the author as a peculiar First-Person Shooter where virtual actions have real life consequences. The performance centered on suffering not through the display of emotions, but engaged people via a playful interactive video game.

The other piece in the “Agent Intellect” exhibition is “The Night of Bush Capturing: A Virtual Jihadi” (2008), based on the videogame “Quest for Saddam” (2004), which first was hacked by Al Qaeda supporters. Here, Saddam Hussein's virtual face was replaced President George W. Bush, but in Bilal’s third modification the artist himself played the role of a suicide bomber in the game.

His goal was to address the...

“...Vulnerability of Iraqi civilians to the travesties of the current war and racist generalizations and stereotypes as exhibited in games such as Quest for Saddam, along with vulnerability to recruitment by violent groups like Al Qaeda because of the U.S.'s failed strategy in securing Iraq. The work also aims to shed light on groups that traffic in crass and hateful stereotypes of Arab culture with games like Quest for Saddam and other media.” (Wafaa Bilal).

Link: Wafaa Bilal

Link: The Helen Day Art Center

Text by Mathias Jansson

Event: "GaMe!" (DAM Gallery, Berlin, 2/2 - 3/24 2010)

 
Todd Deutsch, a.k.a. KillerJ00, 2005, C-print, 45,7 x 30,5 cm, edition of 15

As a part of Transmediale.10, DAM Gallery in Berlin has organized an exhibition titled “GaMe!” featuring six international artists working with videogames and electronic toys, The line-up includes France Cadet (France), Todd Deutsch (USA), Mark Essen, (USA), Joan Leandre (Spain), Jason Rohrer (USA), and Tale of Tales (Belgium). Todd Deutsch is known for his photos from LAN-parties, Tales and Tales for their existential art games and Joan Leandre for his videos of deconstructed videogames.

Text by Mathias Jansson.

Link: GaMe! (in German)

Related: GameFaces

Call for Machinima: Gallery Maskinen, Sweden (deadline: February 19 2010)

 
"CALL FOR MACHINIMA ENTRIES

GALLERY MASKINEN WOULD LIKE TO INVITE YOU TO SUBMIT YOUR

CONTRIBUTION TO PARTICIPATE IN A MACHINIMA SCREENING 

ON THE 2'ND OF MARCH 2010

Machinima is the use of real-time three-dimensional (3-D) graphics rendering engines to generate computer animation. The term also refers to works that incorporate this animation technique which includes videos recorded in computer games or virtual worlds.

Originally a practice that arose from the animated software introductions of the 1980´s demoscene, machinima is today a powerful artistic tool that promote the relationship between art and new technologies with the ability to reinterpret and re-code content from computer games and virtual worlds.

The machinima screening will take place the 2 March 2010 in HUMlab at the Umeå University in the northern part of Sweden. We are interested in any forms of machinima based work and you can contribute with as many works as you like. We prefer that you send the works, for example, via www.sendthisfile.com or www.yousendit.com to galleri.maskinen@gmail.com. If this is not possible DVD´s can be sent to:

Rasmus Albertsen

Glädjens Gränd 2, 0102

90363 Umeå

Sweden

DEADLINE FOR WORK(S) 19 February 2010

NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCE OF WORK(S) 24 February 2010

The event will take place at the 2 March 2010 between 5 pm and 8 pm

Maskinen is an artist-run, non-profit gallery. Our ambition is to run an nontraditional gallery that doesn’t necessarily work inside ”The White Cube” and give place to lesser-exposed trends in the different forms of contemporary art. Established, as well as un-established artists are represented in Maskinen.

HUMlab at Umeå University is a vibrant meeting place for the humanities and information technology. A large and diverse studio environment serves as the most important manifestation of this basic idea which involves bringing people together, looking at information technology as tool, medium, study object, and activist venue, and doing things that have never been done before. 

HUMlab is localized at the very center of the campus, and attracts people from the whole university and from the outside. Many international visitors come to HUMlab, and there is often a number of simultaneous activities going on in the space. More info: http://www.humlab.umu.se/

The development of HUMlab has been supported by the Kempe Foundations, the Knut and Alice Wallenberg Foundation, the Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation and others."

Thanks to Mathias Jansson

Link: Maskinen Gallery

video: Gamerz 05

Courtesy of Eric Douglas Stanley.

Related

Event: Joseph Delappe' "gg hootenanny!

Media Artist Joseph DeLappe is launching the first ever internet-wide global gaming voicechat singalong, the gg hootenanny!, a day long festival featuring songs of freedom and protest in celebration of the release of his avatar, MGandhi Chakrabarti, from his nine-month imprisonment/durational reenactment in Second Life. This is a call for participation for all gamers and residents of online communities come together and sing!

Delappe writes:

"Plans for the big event are moving forward! I've decided to add two additional performances on the 26th of January. In order to allow Second Life residents in different time zones (Europe, Asia, etc.) there will be three performances over the course of the day - 10am, 6pm and 11pm SLT (Second Life Time which is the same as Pacific Daylight time).

I am also making arrangements for live streaming of video and sound from within Second Life for all three performances. Stay tuned to this blog for an eventual link and further information.

Scheduled performers so far include: The Beatles, Amy Winehouse, Pope Benedict XVI, Hello Kitty, Jim Morrison, Prince Charles, Spongebob Squarepants, Robert Smith (of the Cure), Wonder Woman and many more!" (Joseph Delappe)

Link: GG Hootenanny 

Event: Tobias Bernstrup “Almost Human” (01/09 - 02/14, Andréhn-Schiptjenko gallery, Stockholm)

 Tobias Bernstrup, one of the early pioneers of  Game Art, is showing “Almost Human” at galleryAndréhn-Schiptjenko in Stockholm, Sweden, between January 9 - February 14.  Since the early Nineties Bernstrup has created artworks inspired by videogames such as “Museum Meltdown”, “Potsdamer Platz” and “XSEED 4000”. In the last few years. he has pushed the boundaries between the virtual and the real, mixing his real persona with virtual characters. “Almost Human” is an exhibition about our split persona daily shifting between human and avatar, between reality and virtuality.

“Tobias Bernstrup is one of Sweden’s most important performance and new media based artists being internationally active for more than a decade. He has constructed his own unmistakable performance persona in elaborate costumes in glossy latex and heavy make up during these years.  Almost Human will be his 2nd solo exhibition at the gallery. Through re-medialization Bernstrup addresses questions about identity and gender and the blurred border between the virtual and the real. He mixes classicism, gothic noir with video game aesthetics.” (Andréhn-Schiptjenko)

Text by Mathias Jansson

Link: "Almost Human"

Link: Tobias Bernstrup

Related: Interview with Palle Torsson, Tobias Bernstrup on Museum Meltdown

Event: The Art History of Games conference (Atlanta, Feb. 4-6 2010)

 

"The Savannah College of Art and Design and the Georgia Institute of Technology Digital Media Program will host the first Art History of Games conference Feb. 4-6. The three-day public symposium will bring together experts in game studies, art history and related areas of cultural studies to investigate games as an art form. The conference will be held at the Woodruff Arts Center’s Rich Auditorium in midtown Atlanta, courtesy of the High Museum of Art.

Matthew Maloney, digital animator and associate dean for the SCAD School of Film, Digital Media and Performing Arts, described the Art History of Games conference as timely. “Games and art have connections going back to the early 20th century, but the subject is not very well explored," he said. "While there is much discussion on whether games are art, it is often limited to comparisons to Hollywood cinema rather than contemporary art. This symposium will provide a venue for artists, scholars and game developers to expand on games as a form of art as well as set the path for conversations going forward.” 

The conference offers attendees access to leading artists and academics in the gaming industry with panel discussions, presentations and Q&A sessions. Prominent game designers scheduled to speak include John Romero, a creator of iconic titles such as “Wolfenstein 3D” and “Doom”; Brenda Brathwaite, who recently received the Vanguard Award for her game “Train” at IndieCade; and Ian Bogost, associate professor at Georgia Tech’s Ivan Allen College of Liberal Arts and founding partner of the award-winning independent video game studio Persuasive Games.  

“Games are a part of human culture. They have been for millennia, and we can study them for many reasons: to make better ones and to learn to plumb their depths as players, for example. But perhaps the most important and least common reason is this: to understand their role in our lives,” said Bogost. 

In addition to speaking at the conference, Jason Rohrer, creator of the critically acclaimed “Passage”; Tales of Tales, the dynamic duo behind “Path”; and Eric Zimmerman, co-founder of gameLab, also will premiere newly commissioned art games. 

Other notable speakers are Christiane Paul, adjunct curator of new media arts at the Whitney Museum of American Art; Henry Lowood, Stanford University’s curator for the history of science and technology collections and film and media collections; Michael Nitsche, digital media scholar and assistant professor at Georgia Tech; and John Sharp, SCAD interactive design and game development and art history professor. Jesper Juul and Frank Lantz also plan to participate in the conference.  

The conference is organized and chaired by Bogost, Nitsche and Sharp."

Link: The Art History of Games