GAMESCENES

EVENT: MALITZIN CORTÉS (CNDSD) AND IVÁN ABREU (OCTOBER 1 - 10 2024, ONLINE)

AUTOCONSTRUCCIÓN

digital video (1920 x 1080), color, sound, 13’ 52”, 2024, Mexico

created by Malitzin Cortés (CNDSD) and Iván Abreu

vral.org

 

Originally conceived and performed as a live-coded audiovisual concert and real-time video game animation, Autoconstrucción was collaboratively created by Malitzin Cortés (CNDSD) and Iván Abreu. The project, executed through algorithms and unfolding across four distinct chapters, was performed in Mexico City (2022), Madrid (2023), Utrecht (2023), and Shanghai (2023). The segment presented on VRAL features a generated version of episode 2, entitled Floating City - Floating Population. This episode explores the concept of a transient population inhabiting cities, with AI creating hybrid architectural facades that reflect the empty character of many peripheral cities during the day.

Malitzin Cortés (CNDSD) is a renowned musician, live coder, and creative technologist. Her multifaceted work encompasses live coding, live cinema, installation art, virtual reality, creative coding, sound design, experimental music, and sound art. In 2020, she was awarded the Latin American Prize for Virtual Reality “Realmix” for her immersive piece “Hyper_D.” Malitzin is currently a workshop instructor in live coding with functional programming using Tidal Cycles on the educational platform of CMMAS. She has showcased her work at prominent venues and events including the Multimedia Center, Alameda Art Laboratory, Ex-Teresa Arte Actual, Digital Cultural Center, Medialab Prado, Spain Cultural Center, CMMAS, Vorspiel, Spektrum Berlin, Transpiksel, Aural, Transmediale Berlin, ISEA, CYLAND MediaArtLab Saint Petersburg, ADAF, Ars Electronica, Currents, as well as MUTEK in Mexico, Montreal, and Japan. CNDSD’s soundscapes are crafted for experimental environments, characterized by granular landscapes, algorithmic vocal experiments, hypnotic noise improvisations, live coding, and asymmetric patterns, pushing the boundaries of musical and sonic exploration. Cortés lives and works in Mexico City.

Iván Abreu is an esteemed audiovisual artist and creative technologist based in Mexico City. His interdisciplinary practice spans a diverse array of media, including digital graphics, photography, electronic devices, software development, music and sound experimentation, expanded film and video, and industrial design. Abreu's innovative work has garnered numerous accolades and support from prestigious institutions. These include the Prix Ars Electronica (2012, Linz, Austria), the CINTAS Foundation Award in Visual Arts (2011-12, New York/Miami), and the ZKM Production and Research Residence – Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany (2021). He has also been supported by the National Fund for Culture and the Arts, through the National System of Art Creators (2012-2014, 2017-2019, and 2022-2025, Mexico). Abreu's audiovisual creations have been showcased at prominent international festivals dedicated to sound art, experimental music, and media art. His work has been featured at the International Conference of Live Coding in Madrid, Aural, Transmediale Berlin, MUTEK in Mexico and Montreal, the International Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA), and the Asia Culture Center in Korea.

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EVENT: ALAN BUTLER (SEPTEMBER 13 - 26 2024, ONLINE)

26 GASOLINE STATIONS

digital video (1920 x 1080), colour, sound, 4’ 23”, 2016, Ireland

created by Alan Butler

September 13 - 26 2024

Introduced by Matteo Bittanti

vral.org

 

26 GASOLINE STATIONS is a digital homage to Ed Ruscha’s iconic 1963 photobook, 26 Gasoline Stations. Ruscha’s work famously documented the mundane yet intriguing petrol stations along his route from Los Angeles to Oklahoma City. In contrast, Butler’s reinterpretation situates this journey within the virtual world of Grand Theft Auto V’s San Andreas, transforming the act of driving across America into a navigational exploration and documentation of digital spaces. Executed as both machinima and an ebook, the project captures each station from the confines of Butler’s studio in Ireland, emphasising the shift from physical to virtual mobility. This transformation not only pays tribute to Ruscha’s artistic exploration but also probes deeper into the evolving relationship between real and simulated environments, highlighting how digital media can extend and challenge traditional notions of landscape, place, and documentation in the age of video games.

Alan Butler is an artist who employs both traditional and new media to probe themes surrounding digital culture and its influence on shaping realities. His creative approach incorporates various materials and techniques from the annals of image–making, scrutinising the ideological and political implications of technologies like 3D graphics, video games, and cloud computing. His recent solo exhibitions include We are Now in the Mountains and They Are in Us at the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin (2023); The Need To Argue In The Master’s Language at Visual Carlow, Ireland (2018); and Down and Out in Los Santos at the Malmö Fotobiennal, Sweden (2017). He has also participated in notable group shows such as Open World: Video Games and Contemporary Art at The Akron Art Museum (2019) and Digital Citizen: The Precarious Subject at the BALTIC Centre for Contemporary Art, UK (2019). A key moment in his career was representing Ireland at the Venice Architecture Biennale 2021 as part of the collective ANNEX. His works are held in several collections including the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the Office of Public Works, Ireland, The Arts Council of Ireland, and Trinity College Dublin.

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EVENT: GIATH TAHA (AUGUST 30 - SEPTEMBER 12 2024, ONLINE)

BECOMING A GHOST

digital video (1920 x 1080), color, sound, 21’ 09”, 2022, Syria

created by Giath Taha

vral.org

Originally a four-channel video installation and presented on VRAL as a single-channel video, Becoming a Ghost documents Syrian-born artist Giath Taha’s emotional reunion with his brother in the online game PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG). Separated for ten years due to the Syrian conflict, Taha and his brother reconnect in this digital warzone, which mirrors the real-life violence that forced Taha to flee Syria. Although the game involves players competing to be the last one standing, it paradoxically becomes a safe space for the brothers to discuss topics censored elsewhere. The work explores themes of presence and absence, reality and simulation, and how virtual spaces can offer temporary escape from harsh realities. Through their mediated interaction in PUBG, Taha and his brother create counter-narratives and find moments of connection despite their physical separation. Becoming a Ghost explores themes of presence and absence, reality and simulation, and the interplay between virtual and real-life experiences.

Giath Taha was born in Syria in 1982 and studied Photography and Applied Arts at the Walled Izzat Institute in Damascus and Literature at the University of Damascus, Syria. He subsequently graduated from the MA Artistic Research at the Royal Academy of Arts (KABK) in The Hague in 2021. He received both the MA Artistic Research Department Award 2021 as well as the Royal Academy Master Award 2021 for his graduation work Becoming a Ghost (2021). Taha lives and works in Amsterdam.

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GAME ART: RENAUD JEREZ’S POISON (2024)

Renaud Jerez’s Poison (2024) is a full-length portrait of a sophisticated woman, elegantly poised in orange-tinted Céline glasses (the artist is keen to specify the exact brand). The lenses faintly mirror a vibrant red backdrop, a blend of Chinese lacquer and Helios red, hinting at an undercurrent of intensity. Draped in a luminous green dress, the fabric shimmers subtly as it cascades to her feet, where she wears a pair of frankly ridiculous yet familiar Swiffer (ditto) slippers, a juxtaposition that adds a touch of domesticity to the otherwise enigmatic scene. In her razor-gloved hand, an armored witch from Obrist’s favorite video game, Elden Ring conjures a bottle that hovers just above her grasp. The bottle, adorned with a skull, floats as if suspended by dark magic, imbuing the composition with an air of danger and mysticism. Across the scene, the words POISON stretch in bold turquoise and pink letters, a vivid inscription that underscores the tension between the portrait’s elegance and its ominous undertones. Jerez’s painting merges the mundane with the fantastical, offering a commentary on power, transformation, and the subtle interplay between fashion and video games, the language of advertising and contemporary art. This work was recently featured in the solo exhibition POISON at Crèvecœur, in Paris.

Renaud Jerez (b. 1982, lives and works in Berlin) explores themes of contamination and consumption through his provocative installations. He crafts avatars from materials like PVC tubing, sports gear, and latex gloves, juxtaposing them with videos that mimic beauty product ads. These skeletal figures, often headless, amputated, and bandaged, expose the relentless demands of industries centered on physical self-maintenance, while their exposed wires and pipe endings hint at a bionic, uncertain future.

LINK: Renaud Jerez

EVENT: GROUP HUG (SEPTEMBER 26 - OCTOBER 20 2024, NEW YORK)

Concept art for Feral Metaverse by Connor Willumsen, courtesy of ONX Studio

Group Hug

curated by Julia Kaganskiy in partnership with Serpentine Arts Technologies and Rhizome

161 Water St, Floor 4 - Entrance on Water & John Street, New York

September 26 to October 20, 2024

Opening and Public Hours: To be announced

 

Group Hug is an ambitious exhibition that aims to redefine the boundaries of video game installations. Held in collaboration with Water Street Projects and curated by Julia Kaganskiy in partnership with Serpentine Arts Technologies and Rhizome, this exhibition transforms the London gallery space into a dynamic playground where visitors are invited to explore and engage with large-scale, site-specific works.

Group Hug challenges the conventions of individualistic gameplay by promoting radical collaboration. Through a selection of pioneering works by leading artists in the field, the exhibition foregrounds cooperative experiences where communication, shared discovery, and mutual reliance are essential for navigating unfamiliar worlds. Visitors will find themselves immersed in multi-sensory environments that blur the lines between player and participant, artist and audience.

The exhibition is a testament to our evolving curatorial model, which emphasizes collective curation and diverse perspectives. Alongside the installations, Group Hug will feature a series of public programs, set to be announced in early September, that further explore the themes of collaboration and community.

Featured artists: Theo Triantafyllidis, Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, and Tale of Tales

Artworks

Still from Feral Metaverse courtesy of Theo Triantafyllidis and ONX Studio

Theo Triantafyllidis – Feral Metaverse Triantafyllidis’s Feral Metaverse drops players into a chaotic landscape where survival depends on disinhibition and cooperation. Breaking away from traditional gaming logic, the work invites participants to navigate a world that prioritizes collective action over competition. The installation, anchored by a custom-built medieval catapult, embodies the artist’s vision of a “feralized” society where synchronicity and shared experience take precedence. Feral Metaverse is curated for Group Hug by Julia Kaganskiy.

Theo Triantafyllidis (b. 1988, Athens) is an artist who blends digital and physical media to explore space and embodiment in hybrid realities. His work, characterized by awkward interactions and precarious physics, invites viewers into uncanny and poetic environments. Using monster theory, Triantafyllidis delves into themes of isolation, sexuality, and violence, often incorporating computational humor and AI improvisation. He holds an MFA from UCLA and a Diploma of Architecture from the National Technical University of Athens. His work has been exhibited in institutions such as the House of Electronic Arts, Hammer Museum, and NRW Forum, and he has participated in events like the Athens Biennale, Sundance New Frontier, and the Venice Biennale.

Still from THE LACK: I KNEW YOUR VOICE BEFORE YOU SPOKE courtesy of Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley and ONX Studio

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley – THE LACK: I KNEW YOUR VOICE BEFORE YOU SPOKE Brathwaite-Shirley’s THE LACK is a deeply personal exploration of Black Trans identity through the lens of a choose-your-own-adventure game. The installation incorporates performance elements, with bespoke dance mats serving as controllers and soundscapes generated by player interaction. In this space, the audience becomes a crucial part of the work, blurring the line between creator and participant. Curated by Serpentine Arts Technologies, THE LACK transforms the gallery into a site of active engagement.

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley (b. 1995, London) is a Berlin/London-based artist working in animation, sound, performance, and video game development. Their practice creatively retells the stories of Black Trans people by blending lived experience with fiction. Brathwaite-Shirley's work has been featured in solo exhibitions and performances at venues including Fundació Joan Miró, LAS, Studio Voltaire, and SCAD, and in group exhibitions at institutions such as the Julia Stoschek Foundation and Barbican. They received a BA from the Slade School of Fine Art in 2019.

Still from The Endless Forest courtesy of Tale of Tales and ONX Studio

Tale of Tales – The Endless Forest In The Endless Forest, players inhabit the tranquil world of a multiplayer online game where they explore a vast forest as deer. Devoid of traditional goals or objectives, the game encourages peaceful interaction and exploration. This dreamlike environment, sustained by a dedicated community for nearly two decades, is curated for Group Hug by Rhizome.

Auriea studied sculpture at Parsons in New York, and Michael graphic design at Sint-Lucas in Ghent. They began their digital art careers with entropy8.com and zuper.com, meeting in 1999 through the hell.com artists collective. As the duo Entropy8Zuper!, they created notable net.art projects like Skinonskinonskin and The Godlove Museum, earning the SFMOMA Prize for Excellence in Online Art in 2000. Transitioning to video games as Tale of Tales, they released influential titles such as The Endless Forest, The Graveyard, and The Path. Their game Luxuria Superbia won the IGF Nuovo Prize in 2014, and they received Indiecade's Trailblazer award in 2018. Since 2015, Michael has focused on virtual reality and Auriea on digital sculpture. They relocated from Ghent to Rome in 2019 and married in 2024.

Exhibition Partners

Water Street Projects An interdisciplinary platform dedicated to amplifying creative voices across performance, visual arts, and more, Water Street Projects operates with a fluid and expansive approach that invokes the spirit of Cedric Price’s unrealized Fun Palace—a laboratory of fun and a university of the streets.

Julia Kaganskiy As a curator and cultural strategist, Julia Kaganskiy has been at the forefront of art, science, and technology since 2009. Her work explores the intersection of these fields through exhibitions and commissions that challenge and expand our understanding of contemporary art.

Serpentine Arts Technologies A leading force in exploring the impact of technology through art, Serpentine’s Arts Technologies program fosters innovation and supports projects that navigate the intersection of art, science, and technology. Through dedicated research labs and knowledge-sharing initiatives, the program nurtures new art ecologies.

Rhizome A pioneering organization in the digital art space, Rhizome has been integral to the development and preservation of digital art since its founding. With initiatives like the 7x7 art and technology program and a longstanding partnership with the New Museum, Rhizome continues to champion digital art for all.

LINK: Group Hug @ ONX Studio

LINK: Theo Triantafyllidis

LINK: Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley

LINK: Tale of Tales

GAME ART: AARON BERRY’S FOURTH ERA (2016)

Aaron Berry, Fourth Era, digital video, color, sound, 23' 55", United States, 2016. Made with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim © Bethesda Game Studios

Watching the world go by, the expansive forest, snowy plains and castles fill my view. Wandering the arctic wastes I sit thinking of where to go next, an expanse in front of me. I hear voices and whispers in the wind, shadowy figures hidden in the snow. Something out there is calling me. I come to a town filled with people going about their day, farmers, blacksmiths and guards all turn to me as I arrive. I pause the game to make sure I'm still on track each person is now frozen in time, apart from me, sitting there controller in hand.

Baltimore-based artist and activist Aaron Berry’s Fourth Era created in The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, pulls from observational film tradition investigating the digital landscape with earnestness and intimacy. Berry sketches out an impression of Tamerial’s fourth age through bustling towns and isolated valleys. The emperor has died, and the throne sits empty. Authoritarian regimes try to maintain power as bandits, demons and corruption subjugate the general population. Focussing on the details of the landscape Berry attempts to retell the narrative of the game's story. The uncanniness of Skyrim paired with the honesty of the player camera highlights the game's otherness and suggests existence when we are not there.

A machinima film in the style of slow cinema Fourth Era pays tribute to James Benning’s California trilogy. In Benning’s trilogy (El Valley Centro, Los, Sogobi) each film is constructed in the same way 35 shots, 2 minutes and 30 seconds in length on a static 16mm camera. Berry imitates the form with 15 shots all 90 seconds in length (note 1), using this formula in this new untapped, untainted virtual world.

A close-up of jagged ants journeying across the screen, the sharp contours of the polygonal landscape highlighting the world's fabrication. Whispers of merchants selling goods and soldiers repetitively chopping wood, a place of worship atop a mountain - the emptiness and serenity present when the player simply does not play. This stillness pays great respect to the people and the environment of this digital world and makes it feel alive, the wind, the rain breathing life into the artificial land.

An experience known to the Skyrim player base, the role playing game lulls the player into slowing down. There is no mount or way of traversing the landscape other than walking in the initial sense, the game forces you to travel by foot across its landscape. The environment is filled with small details that convey a real alive world, present in each step you take.

Slow cinema is a kind of worship, an image on the screen, the object of our gaze absorbing our devotion: the everyday acts of Jeanne Dielman, the fishing boat in Leviathan, the desert of El Valley Centro. This form being remediated here through machinima, questions the digital environment and the transcendental elements of “nature”.

Aaron Berry, Fourth Era, digital video, color, sound, 23' 55", United States, 2016. Made with The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim © Bethesda Game Studios

As Aaron Berry writes,

More than anything, I see a bigger connection between death and life throughout the world. It starts with a shot of the dead elk, and ends on top of a mountain where a dragon circles around the peak. I guess one can see a bit of transcendence or afterlife imagery through that lens. The idea of nature as a transcendence from the struggles of man and closeness to the divine goes back to Thoreau’s Walden. James Benning is fully aware of this, invoking Walden several times throughout his films. At the time of making Fourth Era, I was still an atheist and was fascinated by nature on an aesthetic level. Now, as someone who is more agnostic yet has found solace in African-American spiritualism, I definitely see where the lines of prayer and nature meet. ~ Aaron Berry (note 2)

Within Skyrim there is an overarching religious belief of the Nordic Pantheon made up of various deities, relating to different aspects of the world, gods of birth, death and time. Journeying through these landscapes and towns you can feel their presence within Fourth Era. Each shot feels like an ode to these deities, gods of the digital realm. The empty towns and rolling hills stages for their appearance, which never comes. Without the prophetical main player character “the Dragonborn” these areas of action and miracle are left deserted. Is this world better for it, no divine being, no unquestionable force?

With such earnestness, it is hard to disregard the possibility of their existence, these walking lines of code and fictitious mythologies. Watching the wind blow through these “uninhabited” landscapes feels as if I am searching for something or someone, the way my eyes dart around the screen looking for something. Maybe what I am looking for is something unknown, invisible to my eye.

I know when I turn the game off it stops, but it doesn't feel like it does, the image permeates and continues to play in my mind, on and on.

Harry Bayley

 

Harry Bayley is an artist and curator, blending his expertise in film and screen media with curatorial skills. His diverse experience, from designing CRM systems to curating film programs, reflects his commitment to enhancing audience engagement and his capability to handle both creative and logistical aspects of projects. Currently advancing his academic research in machinima film practice at Birkbeck University London, Bayley contributes to the arts community through his innovative approaches to curation and exhibition management. Bayley works and lives in London

Notes

(1) the final shot exceeds this timing.

(2) personal communication with the author.

LINK: Aaron Berry

EVENT: MACHINE LOVE: VIDEO GAME, AI AND CONTEMPORARY ART (FEBRUARY 13 - JUNE 8 2025, TOKYO)

Sato Ryotaro, Dummy Life #11, 2022, Inkjet print, 12.4 ｘ 14.8 cm

MACHINE LOVE: Video Game, AI and Contemporary Art

February 13 - June 8 2025

Mori Art Museum

6-10-1, 六本木ヒルズ 森タワー 52F, 六本木, JP 106-6150

Curated by Kataoka Mami, Martin Germann, Yahagi Manabu

press release

With the explosive growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and the integration of the virtual and real worlds, the latest cutting-edge technologies have quickly penetrated our daily lives. This tendency has become especially apparent since the COVID-19 pandemic, when many human activities shifted towards virtual space. Looking back, the progress of art and technology has run parallel to each other throughout the course of history, which is especially evident in the field of computer art and video art. While recent innovations in video game engines and AI offer unprecedented possibilities for artists, the advent of generative AI also has raised significant concerns. Such developments are now attracting considerable attention in various fields and industries, including the contemporary art world.

MACHINE LOVE introduces contemporary artworks that employ game engines, VR and AR, and other innovative technologies that have the capacity to extend human creative power, such as algorithms and generative AI. These works explore new aesthetics and image-making through the use of various data-sets that exist in the digital space, while demonstrating novel approaches to art making made possible by interactive networks of countless individuals. Other works examine how online avatars and characters can nurture new types of gender and racial identities that lie beyond the reach of social norms. By adopting these methods, artists delve into the most pressing challenges facing contemporary society, including the environmental crisis, historical interpretation, humanity, ethics, and diversity.

By exhibiting artworks jointly created by “machines” and artists, and offering immersive spatial experiences through large-scale installations, this exhibition provides a platform to contemplate the relationship between humankind and technology, which evokes emotions of love, empathy, elation, fear, and anxiety. Join us in a space where reality and virtual space overlap in order to envision better ways to live out an uncertain future.

Participating Artists: Kim Ayoung, Lu Yang, Sato Ryotaro, Jakob Kudsk Steensen, Adrián Villar Rojas, and others

Advisors: Hatanaka Minoru (Chief Curator, NTT InterCommunication Center [ICC]), Taniguchi Akihiko (Media Artist)

LINK: MACHINE LOVE: Video Game, AI and Contemporary Art

CALL FOR PAPERS: GAME ENGINE CULTURE(S) (DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 15 2024)

Project overview

Game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine have transcended their initial confines in video game development, evolving into versatile platforms that now influence a wide array of creative and scientific fields. These powerful tools are not just limited to gaming; they have reshaped Hollywood visual effects, virtual production, and even pre-visualisation of movie sets, as well as contemporary art and architecture. Game engines are also utilised to create training simulations for various industries, including the military. As these engines standardise aesthetic and functional practices, they simultaneously raise critical questions about artistic authorship, expressive diversity, accessibility, environmental sustainability, and the impact of increased digital consumption.

Entitled Game Engine Culture(s), this international research initiative aims to critically examine the contemporary use of game engines within the visual arts. It seeks to explore the convergence of media studies, game studies, platform studies, curatorial practice, and art history. Through in-depth analysis and prototyping under the guidance of artists and practitioners, the project investigates methods to preserve authorship and foster critique within complex digital ecosystems. Our objective is to collaborate with scholars, artists, curators, critics, and practitioners to generate new insights into the social, aesthetic, and technical dimensions of game engines.

Call for papers details

The Department of Art, Media, and Performance “Giampaolo Fabris” at IULM University, Milan, the School of Digital Arts at Manchester Metropolitan University, and the Department of Digital Humanities at King’s College London, under the guidance of Matteo Bittanti, Valentino Catricalà, and Paolo Ruffino, invite scholars, artists, developers, and practitioners to submit abstracts for a forthcoming publication and series of collaborative research activities centered around the theme of Game Engine Culture(s).

We welcome submissions that explore, but are not limited to, the following themes:

• The transformative impact of game engines on visual culture and artistic expression;
• Critical analyses of aesthetic standardization and homogeneity in production management and 'pipelines' across different fields;
• The circulation of digital assets across diverse fields of cultural production;
• Platformisation tendencies and commercial interests driving game engine development;
• The role of game engines in promoting or hindering diversity and accessibility in digital art and culture;
• Case studies on specific artists (e.g., Ed Atkins, Alice Bucknell, Ian Cheng, Jacky Connolly, Lawrence Lek, Lu Yang and many more);
• ​The use of game engines beyond gaming, including in film, architecture, and other creative industries;
• ​The accessibility of game engines for diverse populations and their role in democratizing digital art creation, including related narratives and discourses;
• The techno-ideologies and geopolitics of game engines;
• Sustainable practices and the challenge of e-waste in the context of game engine proliferation;
• Strategies for preserving artistic authorship and originality within game engine ecosystems.

Game Engine Culture(s) is fully funded by IULM University, ensuring comprehensive support throughout its development. The resulting publication, scheduled to be released in English, will be published by a leading academic publisher, guaranteeing wide dissemination and accessibility within the scholarly community. To accompany the release of the book, we are planning various events, including conferences, talks, screenings, and more.

Important dates

• Abstract submission deadline: September 15, 2024
• Notification of acceptance: October 15, 2024
• Full paper submission deadline: December 15, 2024
• Publication date: 2025

Submission guidelines

• Abstracts: Should be between 300-500 words, clearly outlining the research question, methodology, bibliography, and potential contributions to the field.
• Biographies: Please include a brief biography of the author(s) with the abstract submission.
• Full papers: Should be between 6,000-8,000 words, including references and footnotes, formatted according to MHRA style. Please use British English.
• Format: Submit your chapter as a .docx or .pdf file.
• Submission email: Send submissions to [email protected] with the subject line “Game Engine Cultures Submission”.

Contact information

For further information, please contact:

• Matteo Bittanti: [email protected]
• Paolo Ruffino: [email protected]
• Valentino Catricalà: [email protected]

This call seeks to foster innovative research trajectories both conceptually and methodologically, promoting an original and interdisciplinary approach to studying the impact of game engines on contemporary visual culture. By bringing together experts from various disciplines and creative sectors, this project not only aims to map the state of the art but also to delineate new future research directions.

We look forward to receiving your contributions and to fostering rich discussions and insights into the complex nexus of game engines and contemporary visual culture.

image: Game Engine, by Dall-E, 2024

EVENT: DANIELLE BRATHWAITE-SHIRLEY’S THE SOUL STATION (JULY 11 - OCTOBER 13 2024, BERLIN)

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, THE SOUL STATION, 2024. Installation view at Halle am Berghain, Berlin. Commissioned by LAS Art Foundation. Courtesy the artist; LAS Art Foundation. Photo: Alwin Lay

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley
THE SOUL STATION
July 12–October 13, 2024

Episode I, YOU CAN’T HIDE ANYTHING: July 12–September 8

Episode II, ARE YOU SOULLESS, TOO?: September 12–October 13

Halle am Berghain
Am Wriezener bhf
Am Wriezener Bahnhof
10243 Berlin
Germany

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley’s new game-based installation, THE SOUL STATION, has opened in Berlin and will remain open until October, offering visitors an immersive experience in a fictional universe. Through interactive choices, visitors confront biases and exclusions, gaining insights into an archive of voices from the past and present.

Presented by LAS Art Foundation, this is Brathwaite-Shirley’s first solo exhibition in Germany, unfolding in two episodes: YOU CAN’T HIDE ANYTHING (July 12–September 8) and ARE YOU SOULLESS, TOO? (September 12–October 13, 2024). The installation debuted on July 11 at Halle am Berghain, attracting over 1,000 visitors within three hours.

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, THE SOUL STATION, 2024. Installation view at Halle am Berghain, Berlin. Commissioned by LAS Art Foundation. Courtesy the artist; LAS Art Foundation. Photo: Alwin Lay

THE SOUL STATION includes a newly commissioned, two-part work and a retrospective of the artist’s video games from the past five years. The new game, played collaboratively in an arena-like setting, guides visitors through the exhibition, challenging them to reflect on their experiences and biases.

In YOU CAN’T HIDE ANYTHING, the first episode, a parallel society’s cataclysmic event leads to a revolution against globalized slavery. The second episode, ARE YOU SOULLESS, TOO?, introduces new characters migrating between universes and offers a behind-the-scenes look at the people and conversations that shaped the first episode.

Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley, THE SOUL STATION, 2024. Installation view at Halle am Berghain, Berlin. Commissioned by LAS Art Foundation. Courtesy the artist; LAS Art Foundation. Photo: Alwin Lay

Visitors receive a SOUL CODE to track their progress and choices throughout the games. SOUL STATIONS, similar to video game checkpoints, are available throughout the exhibition and online, facilitating a personal and introspective journey. Visitors answer questions and decipher symbols, as suggested by the artist, to cleanse their souls.

THE SOUL STATION showcases a comprehensive survey of Brathwaite-Shirley’s work, featuring key pieces from the past five years. The selection varies with each episode, highlighting the artist’s blend of lived experience and speculative fiction to reveal overlooked histories. Notable works include INTO THE STORM (2021), NO SPACE FOR REDEMPTION (2024), and I CAN’T FOLLOW YOU ANYMORE (2023).

Co-curated by Boris Magrini, Senior Curator at LAS Art Foundation, and Guest Curator Mawena Yehouessi, with Assistant Curator Agnessa Schmudke, THE SOUL STATION is accompanied by a public program of workshops and performances at Halle am Berghain.

LINK: Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley

LINK: THE SOUL STATION

GAME ART: MARINE BEAUFILS’S LA SENTINELLE (2022-2024)

Marine Beaufils’s La Sentinelle is a needlepoint series initiated in 2022 and completed in February 2024 and a sequel to Absorbed by the Sentinel. It consists of 14 pictures, each measuring 56x46 cm, that meticulously replicate scenes from the 1986 video game The Sentinel by Geoff Crammond. The game was initially developed for the BBC Micro and later ported to the ZX Spectrum by Mike Follin. Each needlepoint in the series uses a unique color duo from the game’s eight-shade palette to illuminate the scenes. The precise transfer of the game’s pixelated images onto the embroidery canvas creates a luminous effect that mimics the appearance of the original cathode-ray screens.

This pixel-to-canvas transformation highlights the resemblance between the pixel grid and the embroidery grid, a recurring theme in the artist's work, which also includes projects inspired by other classic video games like Super Metroid, Robocop 2, Castlevania III and Maniac Mansion. As Beaufils explains on her website, the project involves two key stages: dreaming and transcription. In the dreaming stage, the artist visualizes scenes from beloved video games, recalling the wonder and nostalgia associated with them. This is followed by the transcription stage, where the artist meticulously counts and arranges the pixels on the embroidery grid, translates them into colored threads, and executes the needlepoint over an extended period, adhering to a detailed plan.

Marine Beaufils is a French embroidery artist. She reproduces the world on a different grid than the one that is imposed to us. On embroidery’s matrix, she tries to fit the details of the video games she loves, the vignettes of her favorite movies, the readings that have marked her or the colors of astronomical views that fascinate her

Read more about the project on EDGE magazine (2023)

LINK: Marine Beaufils (via Things Magazine)