GAMESCENES

GAME ART: ALEX MACKIN DOLAN'S FULLY FUNCTIONAL GAMBLING AMUSEMENT MEDAL MACHINES (2022)

In his 2022 solo exhibition Really New God at Davis Lewis Gallery (November 4, 2022 - December 22, 2022), Alex Mackin Dolan presented custom-built video game machines that illuminate the addictive and extractive techniques of modern media. The show's title refers to the acronym RNG, or Random Number Generator, an algorithm that determines random outcomes in video games and computer programs. RNG is colloquially known in the machine gambling industry as Really New God.

The machines in the show, handcrafted from wood and spare parts, are modeled after "medal games"—a type of amusement machine popular in Japan that involves exchanging money for tokens without the ability to convert tokens back to cash. Though lower stakes than casino games, medal games simulate and normalize machine gambling. As Dolan's work suggests, these types of games share DNA with today's ad-driven apps and websites, which employ addictive design to capture user attention and "bleed" funds over time.

Alex Mackin Dolan, Untitled (Really New God), Computer components, paint, wood, 45x 26 1/2 x 29 in, installation view at David Lewis Gallery 2022

Through his constructed arcade cabinets, Dolan draws connections between gambling mechanics, algorithmic systems, and the extractive attention economy of digital media. Blurring recreation and addiction, his works reveal the underlying programs that fuel obsessive consumption. Ultimately, the exhibition imagines algorithmic code as the new omnipotent force shaping social behaviors and desires.

Additional information about the exhibition is available here.

Dolan (b. 1990, Colorado) is based in New York. His work has been exhibited globally, including at the Serpentine Gallery, Swiss Institute, LUMA Westbau, and the Park Avenue Armory. He was featured in Shumon Basar, Douglas Coupland, and Ulrich ObristHann's book Age of Earthquakes: A Guide to the Extreme Present.

LINK: Alex Mackin Dolan (All images courtesy of the Artist)

EVENT: SILICON VALLEY TALKS: ATARI DESIGN (MAY 2 2023, STANFORD, USA)

Silicon Valley Talks: Atari Design

Sponsored by Stanford Universities Library

Tuesday, May 2, 2023
12pm to 1pm PT

Free and open  to the public

Hohbach Hall, 123
557 Escondido Mall, Stanford, CA 94305
View map

press release

Join the Silicon Valley Archives in welcoming author Raiford Guins as he and the Harold C. Hohbach Curator for the History of Science and Technology Collections, Henry Lowood, discuss his latest book, Atari Design: Impressions on Coin-Operated Video Game Machines.

Drawing from deep archival research and extensive interviews, Atari Design is a rich, historical study of how Atari's industrial and graphic designers contributed to the development of the video game machine. You may purchase a copy of the book here.

Raiford Guins is Chair and Professor of Cinema and Media Studies in the Media School at Indiana University, Bloomington. He is the author of Game After: A Cultural Study of Video Game Afterlife (MIT Press, 2014) and Atari Design: Impressions on Coin-Operated Video Game Machines (Bloomsbury, 2020). Guins is currently writing a book on the popularity of the English Premier League in the US. He co-edits MIT Press's Game Histories Book Series with Henry Lowood.

 

Read more: Atari Design @ Stanford

EVENT: LUYANG ARCADE LIVERPOOL (APRIL 28 - SEPTEMBER 17 2023, LIVERPOOL)

LuYang show at the Zabludowicz collection, London. (Credit: David Bebber)

LUYANG ARCADE LIVERPOOL

April 28-September 17 2023

FACT Liverpool
88 Wood Street, Liverpool, L1 4DQ

 

Tokyo-based virtuoso LuYang astounds in a monumental opening of FACT Liverpool's 20th anniversary program with an exhibition of multimedia, playable video game works that transform the gallery into an interactive retrofuturist arcade. LuYang Arcade Liverpool invites visitors to embark on a journey through the prodigious artist's eccentric digital spaces, which merge the realms of anime, video games, and sci-fi. LuYang's interactive works are as entertaining as they are thought-provoking, immersing visitors in a world that is at once dark and bizarre. These works of art probe the concept of 'living on the internet,' inviting us to abandon binary understandings of identity, time, and space.

In LuYang's own words: "Creating a game is like constructing your own universe. The works exhibited in my solo show at FACT are interactive works - game works - from my art practices. The digital spaces I create are a meeting point of Buddhism, popular culture, and my research into neuroscience and technology, designed to stretch the exploration of morality, the mechanics of the human body and mind, and transcendence beyond the binary. Welcome to my worlds."

This upcoming exhibition is a testament to the power of video games as an art form, and a must-see for those interested in exploring the intersection between technology and art.

LINK: LUYANG ARCADE LIVERPOOL

EVENT: NEVER ALONE: VIDEO GAMES AND OTHER INTERACTIVE DESIGN (SEPTEMBER 10 2022 - JULY 16 2023, NEW YORK)

Upper One Games, E-Line Media, and Ishmael Angaluuk Hope. Never Alone (Kisima Inŋitchuŋa). 2014. Video game software. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of E-Line Media. © 2022 E-Line Media

Never Alone: Video Games and Other Interactive Design

September 10, 2022 - July 16, 2023

Museum of Modern Art

11 West 53 Street, Manhattan, New York

Curated by Paola Antonelli, Paul Galloway, and Anna Burckhardt

 

press release

The Museum of Modern Art announces Never Alone: Video Games and Other Interactive Design, an exhibition that will investigate how interactive design informs the way we move through life and conceive of space, time, and connections, well beyond the game screen. On view in the Museum’s street-level gallery from September 10, 2022, through July 16, 2023, the exhibition will bring together notable examples of interactive design from MoMA’s collection, including computer interfaces, icons, apps, and 35 video games, 10 of which visitors will be able to play. This exhibition is grounded in the Museum’s history and commitment to collecting interactive design, from 1960s computer terminals to MoMA’s first selection of video games (acquired in 2012) to the websites of today. Never Alone: Video Games and Other Interactive Design is organized by Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator, Paul Galloway, Collection Specialist, and Anna Burckhardt, Curatorial Assistant, Department of Architecture and Design.

“The interfaces we use to access the digital universe are visual and tactile manifestations of code that both connect and separate us, and shape the way we behave and perceive life,” says Paola Antonelli. “Design is all around us, goes the adage, in everything we touch, use, feel, eat. Ever since digital tools have become ubiquitous, interactive design has become the conduit to systems of all kinds, from communication and information to transportation, supply, and more. It is in the touch commands on the screen of an ATM machine or of a smartphone, and in the interface of an ICU monitor. Interactive design runs a great part of our lives.”

Taking its name from the newly rereleased video game Never Alone (Kisima Inŋgitchuŋa) (2014), the exhibition will be organized into three sections: the Input, the Designer, and the Player. The first section, the Input, will focus on users’ physical interactions with the digital world through tangible objects like keyboards, joysticks, and touchscreens. The second section will examine the Designer’s impact on players’ experiences through early apps like John Maeda’s The Reactive Square (1994) and video games like Lucas Pope’s Papers Please (2014). These first two sections explore different aspects of the interface–where the user meets the machine—making clear that the design of the tangible object and digital experience are fundamental to the success of any interactive design, especially video games. In the third section, the exhibition will explore how the Player’s performance, choices, and interpretation define and reshape games and apps. Video games such as SimCity 2000 (1993) and Minecraft (2011) will be on view as examples of how players can create their own personalized worlds. These works demonstrate that a great part of the success of a game might depend on the player, not only on the designer.

The objects, interfaces, icons, and video games featured in this exhibition were selected as trailblazing examples of interactive design. The criteria for selecting video games were based not only on the aesthetic and narrative quality of each, but also on many other aspects—from the elegance of the code to the choreography of the player’s behavior—that pertain to interactive design. The criteria also focus on how the digital space is designed, flows, and morphs in time; how the game receives and conveys instructions and information via screens and input devices; and how a person interacts with them, whether digitally or physically.

The accompanying publication, Never Alone: Video Games as Interactive Design, written by Paola Antonelli, Anna Burckhardt, and Paul Galloway, explores the impact of interactive design by examining 35 video games created between 1972 and 2018—from Space Invaders (1978) and Pac-Man (1980) to The Sims (2000) and Minecraft. An overarching essay presents the pioneering criteria by which MoMA has selected these video games for its collection, as well as the protocols for their acquisition, display, and conservation. The richly illustrated plate section is divided into three sections that analyze input devices, game designers, and players.

Toru Iwatani. Pac-Man. 1980. Video game software. Published by NAMCO LTD. (currently BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. PAC-MAN TM & © 1980 BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.

Bennett Foddy. Getting Over It with Bennett Foddy. Video game software. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the designer. © 2022 Bennett Foddy

Lucas Pope. Papers, Please. 2013. Video game software. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of the designer. © 2022 Lucas Pope

Markus “Notch” Persson. Minecraft. 2011. Video game software. Published by Mojang. The Museum of Modern Art. New York. © 2022 Mojang

Jenova Chen (Xinghan) Chen. Flower. 2012. Video game software. Published by thatgamecompany. The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC. © 2008 Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC. “Flower” is a registered trademark of Sony Interactive Entertainment LLC. Developed by thatgamecompany

LINK: Moma

GAME ART: STEPHEN THORPE'S ARCADE PAINTINGS (2022)

Stephen Thorpe, The Over-soul, Oil on canvas, 60 x 52 in, 2022

Stephen Thorpe, Life is Heaven, Oil on canvas, 60 x 52 in, 2022

Stephen Thorpe, In Woods and Mountains I Roam, 60 x 52 in, 2022

Stephen Thorpe, One Needs Death to be Able to Harvest the Fruit, oil on canvas, 60 x 52 in, 2022

 

What can I say? I'm totally in love with Stephen Thorpe's bright and colorful "corner" paintings of classic arcades next to flamingos, vultures, seagulls, and ducks.

Here's an excerpt from the dreamlike press release accompanying his most recent show in New York, Boundaries of the Soul, at Denny Diming Gallery:

The edge of the canvas – depicting a room – bleeds into the gallery through thick layers of paint molded to the work’s frame – its own corner. Anachronistic objects question time and place, and ornate rugs, with designs drawn from a myriad of cultures, act as nostalgic calls to half-remembered sanctuaries, a tangle of real and self-constructed realities. Life-size arcades are personified yet switched off, inanimate objects; while the living birds of US naturalist and painter John James Audubon are the focus of lifeless, decorative wallpaper. Through these new works and an exhibition design conceived by the artist, Thorpe creates a setting that marks the boundaries of the soul, a platform for in-betweenness, and spaces through which to encounter the limits and distinctions between self and environment. 

Stephen Thorpe is currently based in Atlanta, Georgia. He received his MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in London and is currently a Professor of Painting at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD). He has been the recipient of numerous prizes, including the Basil H. Alkazzi Foundation Scholarship; Saatchi’s Showdown Prize, judged by Kristine Roepstorff and Matthias Weisher; prize winner of the 3rd Ward Open Call; and the Royal Scottish Academy’s The Skinny Award. Thorpe’s work is held in prominent private and museum collections and has been featured in solo and group exhibitions around the world at venues including Ora-Ora Gallery, Hong Kong; Denny Dimin Gallery, New York and Hong Kong; Saatchi Gallery, London; the National Museum, Gdansk, Poland; Copeland Gallery, London; Summerhall, Edinburgh; the Royal Scottish Academy, Edinburgh; and Aberdeen Art Gallery, Aberdeen, amongst others. He previously sat on the Selection Committee for the Basil H. Alkazzi Scholarship Award and the Ali H. Alkazzi Scholarship at the Royal College of Art, as well as the Outstanding Student Award in Hong Kong.

LINK: Stephen Thorpe

EVENT: GAMEPLAY. VIDEO GAME CULTURE (DECEMBER 19 2019 - MAY 3 2020, BARCELONA, SPAIN)

GAMEPLAY. Video Game Culture

19 December 2019 - 3 May 2020

Centre de Cultura Contemporanea de Barcelona

Inauguration
18 December 2019 - 19.00

7.00 pm Audiovisual performance by Alba G. Corral & Tutu

 

Dates and hours
19 December 2019 - 3 May 2020
From Tuesday to Sunday, 11.00 - 20.00

Curated by Óliver Pérez Latorre, Jérôme Nguyen

Gameplay journeys to the origins of video games, analyses their language and highlights the impact they have had on popular digital culture and on art and society. The exhibition is designed as a space for recreation and reflection where visitors can play and (re)discover video game culture. Since their popularisation in the seventies and eighties, video games have developed as an expressive and entertainment medium and now occupy a central space in our imaginary to the point that, today, it is impossible to understand contemporary society and culture without relating them with video gaming.

Gameplay takes a look at the history of the medium, video game language, experimentation and artistic innovation, and critical and political video games.vThe exhibition also raises the issue of the increasing gamification of society: from mobile games to YouTubers and electronic sports (esports) to so-called serious games, educational video games with applications that go beyond entertainment. With 28 game points, from the first arcade and historic computer games to the new immersive options, Gameplay is devised as an exhibition where visitors can play and, at the same time, understand and enjoy video game culture from a critical viewpoint. The show pays particular attention to Catalan production, especially pioneering works, recent indie creations and local artists, and university projects.

Gameplay. Video Game Culture is an extended adaptation of Gameplay. The Next Level, designed by and first presented at the ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe.

LINK: GAMEPLAY

EVENT: INDIGENOUS FUTURISMS: EXPLORATIONS IN ART AND PLAY (OCTOBER 2 2019 - JANUARY 31, 2020, DAVIS, CALIFORNIA)

Steven Paul Judd, Invaders, 2018

Indigenous Futurisms: Explorations in Art and Play

Gorman Museum at University of California, Davis

Oct 2, 2019 - Jan 31, 2020

One Shields Ave., Davis, California

Open Mon-Fri, noon-5 p.m., and Sun 2-5 p.m.

Admission is free.

Website: gormanmuseum.ucdavis.edu.

Indigenous Futurisms brings together graphics, comics, SF, and video games  to create a provocative space of engagement and thought about Indigenous futures and possibilities. The gaming section was curated by Ashlee Bird, a graduate student of Native American Studies at UC Davis, who writes:

The content and graphics involved with Native American and Indigenous representation in these genres are fraught with embedded stereotypes and in some cases, these depictions are viewed as deeply offensive and racist. Native American artists and game designers actively engage with these concerns by creating new spaces, environments and platforms for the expression of visual sovereignty. Games and artwork are created, mediated and informed from rich cultural foundations alongside technical media expertise.

Video game inspired art on display includes an enormous vinyl inkjet print created by interdisciplinary artist Sonny Assu which reimagines the original Nintendo Entertainment System controller and replaces the original directional pad with a copper, an indigenous shield shape that for Northwest coast tribes indicates status and wealth. The piece is exhibited as large inkjet on paper. 

Sonny Assu, Nuła̱mał Entertainment System, 2017, exhibition Copy: Inkjet on paper, 36 x 26 inches

Assu has previously made modified cabinet arcades such as Wreck-Consiliation! (2017) and Broken Treaties (2017) which both display a video of  Clayfighter (made by Brendan Tang) as a 81 second loop. The coin-op machines were exhibited in the context of the Ready Player Two exhibition at the Reach Gallery Museum, Abbotsford, British Columbia between 25.05.17 - 03.09.17.

Sonny Assu, Wreck-Consiliation!, 2017 a, Maple, copper leaf, paint and video, 24w x 33.5d x 66.25 inches

Sonny Assu, Broken Treaties, 2017, Maple, copper leaf, paint, 73.75x25x28.25 inches

Nathan Powless-Lynes, Hold My Mand!, interactive game, 2019

Indigenous Futurisms also features interactive games playable with Xbox One controllers within the gallery space, including Nathan Powless Lynes's Hold My Hand!, a dual character puzzle platformer where the characters hold hands to help each other overcome obstacles.

Maize Longboat, Ray Caplin, Mehrdad Dehdashti, Beatrix Moersch, Terra Nova, interactive game, 2019

Created by Maize Longboat, Ray Caplin, Mehrdad Dehdashti, Beatrix Moersch, Terra/Nova is a split-screen side-scroller starring an elder land-keep and a youthful inventor. The characters must perform actions in their respective worlds in order to accomplish the game's ultimate goal. Lastly, visitors can experience Full of Birds, an interactive art gallery which immerses the viewer in a colorful, vibrant "natural" world.

LINK: Indigenous Futurism (All images and videos courtesy of the Artists)

EVENT: VIDEO GAME ART 1970-2005 (OCTOBER 19 - JANUARY 12 2019, PASADENA, CALIFORNIA)

Michael Smith, Mike Builds a Shelter (1983), Photo by AND/OR gallery

VIDEO GAME ART 1870-2005

AND/OR GALLERY
980 S ARROYO PKWY #200
PASADENA, CA 91105

Show #32 explores the history of experiments in art video games. Today, there is a booming indie game industry, and experimental video game courses are taught at universities; but these fields largely emerged in the last decade. Before 2005, instances of experimental or art video games are limited, and before the 1990s, they are quite rare. Whether created by artists, programmers, or hobbyists, what often separates these games from their commercial counterparts is their departure from the typical goal-and-reward model of gameplay, and many of the games presented in Show #32 are anticlimactic, unwinnable, un-fun, or all of the above. Some works presented in Show #32 subvert conventional video game mechanics and aesthetics by being outright modifications of popular commercial works like Quake or Super Mario Bros. (AND/OR Gallery)

Featured artists:

Including work by Cory Arcangel, Myfanwy Ashmore, John Horton Conway, JODI, Joan Leandre, David Maynard, Penn and Teller, and Michael Smith, plus rare games on loan from the Supercade collection and a set of Commodore 64 crack intros curated by Beige Records and Radical Software Group.

featured artworks

Conway's Game of Life (1970) by John Horton Conway with Video Life (1981) by Commavid
Untitled Game: CTRL-Space (1998) by JODI
Mig 29 Soviet Fighter Plane and Clouds (2005) by Cory Arcangel
Super Mario Trilogy (2000-2004) by Myfanwy Ashmore
The Glob (1983), NATO Defense (1982), Slither (1982), and 
Boxing Bugs (1981) on loan from the Supercade collection
Mike Builds a Shelter (1983) by Michael Smith, game design and graphics by Dov Jacobson, cabinet design by Alan Herman 
Desert Bus (1995) by Penn and Teller
Worms? (1983) by David Maynard
Low Level Alls Stars (1986-1989) Commodore 64 crack intros curated in 2003 by Beige and RSG
RC-100 (2000) by Retroyou (Joan Leandre)

JODI, Untitled Game: CTRL-Space (1998)

Cory Arcangel, MIG 29 Soviet Fighter Plane and Clouds, 2005, 2 hacked Nintendo Entertainment System game cartridges, 2 Nintendo Entertainment System game consoles, artist software (Photo: Lisson Gallery, Art Basel 2017)

Myfanwy Ashmore, mario_battle_no.1 (mario battle no-one), 2000

LINK: AND/OR GALLERY (Show #32) (Thanks to Kieran Nolan for the tip)

EVENT: NEW RETRO (October 5, 2018, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)

NEWRETRO

@ LIKELIKE

Friday October 5th, 2018
7-11PM
During the Unblurred gallery crawl

205 North Evaline St
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

Leave your nostalgia at the door: the artists and gamemakers in this show mischievously appropriate, revive, and subvert decades of electronic entertainment for their own millennial goals. Get swept up by a whirlwind of forgotten games! Shoot a porno with Sonic! Explore a dreamscape of pixelated sprites! Struggle with a flaccid Mario! Warning: New Retro may corrupt your memory. 

Works by: Cassie McQuater /// Bennett Foddy + AP Thomson /// Stefan Hedman /// Mega Cat Studios /// Arcane Kids /// Arvore

LINK: LIKELIKE

 

EVENT: GAMERZ 14 (November 8 - December 15, Aix-en-Provence, France)

Festival international des Arts multimédia GAMERZ 14ème édition

AIX-EN-PROVENCE | MARSEILLE, FRANCE

NOVEMBER 8 – DECEMBER 2018

http://www.festival-gamerz.com 

 

The excellent Multimedia Arts Festival GAMERZ returns for its 14th edition from 08 November to 15 December 2018 in Aix-en-Provence and Marseille. Curated once again by M2F Creations | Lab GAMERZ, the Festival is scattered across several locations, including the Vasarely Foundation, the Ecole Supérieure d'Art, the Méjanes Library - in Aix-en-Provence and the Grands-Bains Gallery Showers of the Plain in Marseille. The 2018 edition is about developing different practices and artistic strategies as alternatives to escape the digital footprints. The full program will be unveiled soon, so stay tuned. 

 

LINK: GAMERZ