GAMESCENES

EVENT: MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL 2020 (MAY 25-30 2020, ONLINE)

The 2020 MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL is now live! Between May 25-30 2020, the work of 25 different artists from 13 nations will be available online in 6 different programs. Most of these works have never been presented in Italy before. The third edition of the MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL was originally supposed to take place inside the Contemporary Exhibition Hall at IULM University, but was postponed due to the ongoing Covide-19 emergency.

An official event of Milano Digital Week, the MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL is organized in collaboration with GAMESCENES. Art in the age of video games and the M.A. in Game Design at IULM University. A follow-up to the 2016 exhibition GAME VIDEO/ART. A SURVEY, the festival brings to Milan idiosyncratic video works that lie at the intersection of video art, cinema, and digital games.

The 2020 MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL is curated by Matteo Bittanti and presented by FANTAGEMMA, Gemma Fantacci’s alter ego.

LINK: MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL 2020

EVENT: ALEKSANDAR RADAN'S IN BETWEEN IDENTITIES (MAY 8 - MAY 2020, ONLINE)

IN BETWEEN IDENTITIES

digital video, color, sound, 13’, 2020

Created by Aleksandar Radan

May 8 - May 22 2020

 

In an ersatz Los Angeles permeated by a pervasive sense of dread, mysterious figures confront their own meaninglessness. Scantily dressed, completely naked or donning fur coats, men and women seem disoriented as they try to see more, see better or see nothing at all. Some even temporarily blind themselves with slices of cucumber over their eyes. At once recognizable and abstract, these cartoon-like characters are not pathetic, but rather apathetic. The viewer indulges in scopophilic pleasures as they perform mundane acts, like watching themselves in the mirror or taking a photo. It seems harmless, even comical, and yet one feels it could suddenly become a nightmare.

Aleksandar Radan was born in Offenbach am Main in 1988 and studied art at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Offenbach. His work is concerned with the digital medium, especially video games, which he appropriates, manipulates, and subverts. Key themes include the unpredictable ruptures in otherwise predesigned behaviors and environments, the aesthetics of simulation, and the artist’s role in the age of algorithms. Radan’s practice includes experimental film/video, installation and performance. His works have been featured at multiple venues, including the Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival and the International Short Film Festival in Oberhausen.

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GAME ART: EDDIE LOHMEYER'S SCROLLING LANDSCAPES IN 34 NES GAMES #3 (2020)

Eddie Lohmeyer, Scrolling Landscape in 34 NES Games #3, digital video/machinima, color, 4' 04", 2020

Eddie Lohmeyer's archeological approach to gaming and machinima is exemplified by his third installment on the congoing Scrolling Landscape series. 

A the artist writes: 

Scrolling Landscapes (2020) is a three-channel video installation that explores the relationship among nostalgia and our perception of technologically mediated landscapes. Each film in the series was created by appropriating footage of speedruns of older 8-bit video games and then editing together their scrolling landscapes into produce unfolding Rorschach patterns of gameworlds. These landscapes have then been corrupted using glitch techniques to generate psychedelic abstractions that rapidly accelerate through two-dimensional space. With each film in the series, the same landscape is multiplied and arranged so that the scrolling patterns become increasingly complex

Eddie Lohmeyer is currently an Assistant Professor of Digital Media at the University of Central Florida. He received his Ph.D. from North Carolina State University in Communication, Rhetoric, and Digital Media. His research explores aesthetic and technical developments within histories of digital media, with an emphasis on video games and their relationship to traditions of the avant-garde. Additionally, his art considers embodied experience through processes of play and defamiliarization. Using deconstructive approaches such as glitch, physical modifications to hardware, assemblage, etc., his installations, sculpture, and video stage bizarre encounters with media as a means to unveil our normal attitudes and perceptions toward technologies.

LINK: Eddie Lohmeyer

See Episode 1 and Episode 2

EVENT: A MAZE. / BERLIN 2020: FESTIVAL GOES “TOTAL DIGITAL“ (JULY 22-25 2020)

Press release:

Due to the development of the Corona situation, A MAZE. / Berlin 2020 - 9th International Games and Playful Media Festival has decided to cancel the festival in July 2020 in its physical version. But there will be an alternative – the festival will happen virtually:

A MAZE. / Berlin is going “Total Digital“ on July 22-25, 2020.

The whole festival will be online, virtual and remote and a bit ‘too much of everything’.

It will happen on many different platforms at the same time to embrace the international community and the highly creative power of each individual game maker and world builder from around the globe. Now the festival can be even more international and better connected than ever before. It is an amazing chance to create a better presence for developers and event makers.

“Let’s work closer together. For us it’s important to create a loud and visible platform for all the game authors and developers who would have been at A MAZE. / Berlin or people who never have experienced it before. No borders, no visa requirements this time. This festival edition will be a little bit different from the others, but still amazing and full with surprises. We want you to celebrate with us towards colorful prospects and enjoy your time in our unique A MAZE. Space.“ Thorsten S. Wiedemann, artistic director of A MAZE.

The physical version of A MAZE. / Berlin is not replaceable: It is crucial to meet, talk, exhibit, celebrate and find opportunities for the artists’ works and their studios. Tickets will remain valid either for 2021 or 2022 if visitors are not able to join in the next year.

The modules of A MAZE. / Berlin 2020 - Total Digital - 9th International Games and Playful Media Festival can be explored in regular newsletters and social media posts. The status towards the final festival settings will be published online on a regular basis.

Exhibition

There will be a downloadable open A MAZE. space programmed by Moshe Linke, Gianluca Pandolfo and Stephan Insam. Our new interactive space is built on Linke’s museum experience “Brutalism: Prelude on Stone”. The A MAZE. Space is a multiplayer exhibition and festival space where participants can jump in to interact with this year’s A MAZE. selection and experience the digital soul of A MAZE.. The selection is featuring the nominees, honorable mentions and other digital surprises.

Award

The 9th A MAZE. Awards are planned as a fully digital show on Friday July 24, 2020. It is the highlight of the festival. In this honor A MAZE. would like to send again best wishes to all the nominees and honorable mentions including the selected nominees for the 3rd Humble New Talent Award, the Diversity Award.

Full list of games including our 5 jury members: https://amaze-berlin.de/award

Knowledge

On the knowledge side A MAZE. will have talks, masterclasses and workshops to exchange skills and thoughts which are inspiring and filled with deep insights on the work process of the creators. Every talk will end with a moderated Q+A chat where the speakers will have time to answer questions.

Community

The A MAZE. network of festivals, initiatives, game creators, musicians, playful media artists are invited to become part of the 4 days festival program. A MAZE. wants to bring the artistic games world closer together and mirror the diverse, artistic and playful culture. #positivechaos

Opportunities

The A MAZE. Game Bazaar in cooperation with gamesweekberlin is meant to be a market for arthouse games and playful media productions which gives authors and artists the opportunity to meet with publishers, funding institutions or collaborators. The market will be open on Wednesday July 22nd from 4 p.m. to 8p.m. There will also be a Press Bar where journalists can schedule interviews with the game creators. A MAZE. - Submission will open beginning of June.

Celebration & parties

Music? It is planned to create a mix of streamed concerts and live performances - some from Urban Spree Club - some from the kitchen or the living room of the musician.

Tickets

Already bought 2020 tickets will stay valid: Guests who want to experience the physical edition can choose to use their tickets for either 2021 or 2022.

Meanwhile follow the A MAZE. social media channels with features of the games selected and the #wildhearts interviews.

PARTNERS & SPONSORS: A MAZE. / Berlin 2020 is funded by Medienboard Berlin-Brandenburg and part of gamesweekberlin. Supported by Musicboard. Thanks to our sponsors and partners Humble Original, Geier-tronic, Game - Verband der deutschen Game-Branche, Warsteiner, Fritz Cola, Thunderful, Landfall Games, Free Lives, Grover, Indie Village and Indie Area Booth, SAE, Kickstarter, Support by #amazenotdead Kickstarter campaign.

LINK: A MAZE.

GAME ART: SHING YIN KHOR'S THE ARTIST IS PRESENT IN ANIMAL CROSSING (2020)

In the last four weeks, countless artists have used Animal Crossing: New Horizons as a space for artistic re-enactments. On of the most interesting examples were produced by Shing Yin Khor who transformed her Animal Crossing island into an exhibition space where she recreated artworks and performances by Barbara Kruger, Jeanne-Claude, Chris Burden, and Marina Abramović. Abramović’s iconic piece The Artist is Present, which originally took place with audience attendees at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City has been recontextualized in Animal Crossing. Abramović’s piece was also remade by Pippin Barr a few years ago. 

shing yin khor (@sawdustbear), March 30 2020

Khor also made a text piece inspired by Barbara Kruger’s Untitled, which, instead of “your body is a battleground”, reads, “your turnips are a battleground”. Khor has also remade Jeanne-Claude’s installation piece The Umbrellas and Chris Burden’s Urban Light, a large-scale sculpture made of repurposed streetlights from the 1920s and 30s currently on display at the LACMA, in Los Angeles. As for all the others artists involved in such projects, documenting the work is done through Instagram. 

shing yin khor (@sawdustbear), April 4 2020

Shing Yin Khor is a cartoonist and installation artist that is exploring personal narrative, new human rituals, and collaborative worldbuilding through graphic memoir and science fiction, and large scale art structures. I'm obsessed with building universes and collections filled with awkward creatures and yearning people trapped in a world of heroic futility. Her themes are inspired by old museums, cabinets of curiosities, pre-Linnaean taxonomy, and the quiet horror of colonial era collecting.

LINK: Shing Yin Khor

GAME ART: MARK SCHOENING'S "THE RED TULIP GLITCH MEMORIAL" IN ANIMAL CROSSING (2020)

Mark Schoening
The Red Tulip Glitch Memorial
April 23 - 29, 2020

On March 27, 2020, Julia Maiuri, a first year MFA student at the University of Minnesota has launched the Museum of Contemporary Art Kittengale within Animal Crossing: New Horizon, a social simulation video game for the Nintendo Switch that allows players to hang out, connect, and interact in a fantasy world. Programming is facilitated by Julia Maiuri and Joolz, her avatar within the game. Working on this platform, Maiuri pushes the limitations of the game to curate weekly virtual exhibitions by real life artists. Among the first exhibitions held in the newly launched gallery space is Mark Schoening's The Red Tulip Glitch Memorial. Schoening is an artist and also co-founder of Porch Gallery in south Minneapolis. Schoening created the artwork - two portraits of red tulips facing each other on opposite walls, and, on the third wall, white letters on a red background spell out “never again" - using Photoshop, and then uploaded the work through acpatterns.com, which creates a QR code that the game can read. The artwork and the message reference a glitch that occurred fifteen years ago, in the “Animal Crossing: Wild World (2006)." The glitch froze thousands of players, forcing them to remain isolated in their houses for months, separated from one another. There's a fil rouge connecting the previous lockdown with the current situation. Screenshots of the show can be seen on Maiuri's Instagram account @moca.kittengale.

LINK: Mark Schoening's The Red Tulip Glitch Memorial (all images courtesy of the artists)

GAME ART: MATTEA PERROTTA'S ARTWORKS IN ANIMAL CROSSING

A screen shot of Mattea Perrotta's show 'New Drawings,' an exhibition organized by Et al. in Animal Crossing: New Horizons. (Courtesy Et al.)

New Drawings

an exhibition in Animal Crossing New Horizons

Friday, April 17, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. 2020 (PST)

Et al, San Francisco, Ca

Mattea Perrotta's new drawings and rugs are currently on display in Animal Crossing New Horizons. The collection is currently on display online as part of Et al., a gallery directed by Jackie Im, Aaron Harbour, and Kevin Krueger and located in the basement of Union Cleaners in San Francisco's Chinatown.  In 2017, Et al. opened its second location, Et al. etc., a gallery in the Mission. This is another example of tangible, concrete art being exhibited and recontextualized in video game spaces.

Mattea Perrotta, The Last Supper, Installation view. Et al. etc., San Francisco

Mattea Perrotta, Untitled (Rug II), 2019, Hand dyed, hand woven wool textile. 87 x 76 x 1 in / 221 x 193 x 2.5 cm

Mattea Perrotta (b. 1990) is a Paris-based artist born and raised in Los Angeles. Perrotta has a BFA from UC Berkeley and studied at the Santa Reparta School of Art in Florence. Her paintings deal with the balance between masculinity and femininity, the unconscious, desire, and the female body. She has had solo and two-person exhibitions at The Landing, Los Angeles; Lamb Arts, London; and MAMA Gallery in Madrid and Mexico City. She has appeared in group exhibitions in Istanbul, London, Melbourne, Lima, São Paolo, Mexico City, and Bogotá and attended residencies in Mallorca, London, Marrakech and Lisbon. Her recent textiles were influenced by her time living in Tahannaout, Morocco, she still frequents the city and it has had an immense impact on her paintings and practice.

LINK: Mattea Perrotta (all images courtesy of Et al etc.).

ART GAME: OLIVER MAUCO AND ABDEL BOUNANE'S PRISME7 (2020)

A new game from Oliver Mauco and his team is about experiencing art in an immersive, engaging way, navigating through the enormous online collection of the Musée national d’art moderne, and interact with the artworks in a playful way. Developed for the Centre Pompidou on contemporary and modern art by Olivier Mauco of Game in Society and Abdel Bounane, Prism7 is free and supported by the French Ministry of Education. Researchers from the Ircam worked on the sound design. Prisme7 is available for both smartphone/tablets running iOS and Android) and computers (PC/Mac).

 

Here's a description of the gameplay:

As they make their way between colour and light, players explore an organism that is constructed gradually as they discover the physical and sensory properties of the works of art. As they interact with Le Rhinocéros by Xavier Veilhan, New York City by Piet Mondrian, Andy Warhol’s Big Electric Chair or the famous “pipes” of the Centre Pompidou building imagined by Renzo Piano and Richard Rogers, players progress on their way through the game. After an initial introductory level (to familiarise themselves with the gameplay), there are six game worlds where they can explore a selection of 40 iconic works from the Centre Pompidou collection, through the relationships between colour and function, colour and emotion or light and immersion.  

 

LINK: PRISME7

EVENT: MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL 2020 GOES VIRAL (MAY 25-30 2020)

The 2020 edition of the MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL which was previously postponed due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic will indeed happen. And sooner than later. From Monday 25 until Saturday May 30 2020, the entire program will be fully available on the festival website. The MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL is part of the revamped Milano Digital Week 2020: The Augmented City. This year, the work of 25 artists from 13 countries will be presented in 6 sections: Game Video Essay A, Game Video Essay B, The Weird, The Eerie, and The Unreal plus three Special Programs (Artists in focus).

Click here to read the full program.

LINK: MILANO MACHINIMA FESTIVAL 

EVENT: VICTOR MORALES'S RAPID TRANSIT: PREFACE (APRIL 25 - MAY 7 2020, ONLINE)

RAPID TRANSIT: PREFACE

digital video, color, sound, 13’, 2020

Created by Victor Morales. Music: Daniel Dobson. Voices: Modesto Jimenez and Christine Schisano. Written by William Burns.

WORLD PREMIERE

April 25 - May 7 2020

VRAL

What is it like to ride the New York City subway thirty years from now? Victor Morales predicts that most travellers will wear VR/AR displays combined with electric stimulants or lectrics. But the subway itself has not changed much nor its rituals: passengers ignore each other while dancers perform to rhythmless soundtracks interrupted by beeps and synthetic shouts popping out of devices like rings and bracelets featuring holograms with hovering capabilities. On a late weekday night, a rider under the influence boards the train, unbeknownst to what is about to happen.

Born in Venezuela and based in New York City since 1991, Victor Morales is a director, performer, and designer. His practice includes theater direction, video design, animation, text, sound design, and digital puppetry. He collaborated on a variety of projects with Chris Kondek (Berlin), Joseph Silovsky (NYC), Jim Findlay (NYC), Findlay/Sandsmark (Norway), and Wolfgang Mitterer (Austria). Since the early aughts, Victor has been using video game engines to create interactive and non-interactive artworks. His multidisciplinary project Esperpento was selected for the Sundance 2019 New Frontier program and received the “Best Immersive and Time Based Art” award at the B3 Biennial at the Buchmesse in Frankfurt, Germany. 

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