Playing Being – Art Games for Life
Curated by Jaakko Kemppainen
September 25 2022 - January 8 2023
Poikilo-museums
Varuskuntakatu 11, Kouvola-talo
45100 Kouvola
Finland
The games industry is one of the fast-growing fields within the entertainment industry and in the world of business. Furthetmore, games are becoming a significant art form that is not afraid to make statements. The GamePoikilo exhibition focuses on surprising and less well-known works of game art that gaze into the future. GamePoikilo features central recent works of game art but does not ignore the new, experimental and meaningful contenders either. In addition to digital games, the exhibition will also showcase other means of creating game art. As the gamer has a central role in the world of game art, the exhibition guests also have an opportunity to play the exhibition pieces.
Curator and gaem designer Jaakko Kemppainen writes:
The exhibition includes 27 games that can be played at the exhibition. The main theme of the exhibition is “games looking towards reality” – games that handle or comment some real world issues or topics. Most of the games are digital and can be bought or downloaded from different internet services, like Steam or Itch.io. But there are also a couple of unique or rare installations, like Brenda Romero’s Train and Eric Zimmerman’s and Nathalie Pozzi’s Sixteen Tons."
He adds: "The exhibition is the main part of our Capital of Game Art project, which is a collection of different activities that exhibit, explore and expand games as an art form. Beside the exhibition we have e.g. light art festival, where most of the pieces are playable games or approach games from the interactive art. We are also organizing a “Free City of Games” pop-up event, in which there will be multiple exhibitions, workshops, installations, game demos, table top and live role-playing sessions etc through November, in a very visible space in the centre of Kouvola. Here’s some info about Capital of Game Art.
Here's more information about this wonderful initiative:
And some installation shots:
LINK: Playing Being – Art Games for Life (all images courtesy of Poikilo-museums)
