GAMESCENES

GAME ART: RINDON JOHNSON AND JACQUELINE KIYOMI GORK'S THE BELLS PURSUING ONE ANOTHER (2022)

Rindon Johnson with Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, The Bells Pursuing One Another, 2022. Video game, controllers, monitors, gaming chairs. Dimensions variable

Rindon Johnson, with Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork, The Bells Pursuing One Another, 2022. Video game, controllers, monitors, gaming chairs. Dimensions variable

from press release

In their new (and first) video game, Johnson and artist Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork draw on fragmentary data to speculate a firsthand visual and acoustic account of the beaked whale’s hunting habits. Not unlike modern first-person shooters, gameplay is situated from the whale’s point of view; players use the joysticks of an Xbox controller to harmonize their sonic movements in attempts to catch their squid prey gliding between egresses of the deep submarine Great Bahama Canyon. Like other cetaceans, Cuviers use highly developed aural sensory organs to navigate their underwater environment. The whale’s sight, though poorly understood by scientists, is thought to be nearly vestigial. They see as an afterthought. The resulting visual design is stark and monochromatic, forcing players to rely overwhelmingly on the game’s immersive soundscape.

Rindon Johnson (b. 1990, unceded Ohlone and Coast Miwok territories, San Francisco, California) currently lives and works in Berlin where he is an Associate Fellow at the Universität der Künste Berlin. Johnson is the author of four books of essays and poetry, The Law of Large Numbers: Black Sonic Abyss (SculptureCenter/Chisenhale Gallery, 2021), Shade the King (Capricious Press, 2017), No One Sleeps Better Than White People (Inpatient Press, 2016), and the virtual reality book Meet in the Corner (Publishing- House.Me, 2017). Recent solo exhibitions include The Law of Large Numbers at SculptureCenter, New York and Chisenhale Gallery, London; and The Valley of the Moon at François Ghebaly, Los Angeles. His work has been featured at the New Museum, New York; the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; and the 2022 Whitney Biennial, New York.

Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork has been working with the intersection of sound, sculpture and performance since 2002. She studied sound art, photography and new genres at the San Francisco Art Institute and researched the history of communication technologies, acoustics and computer music at Stanford University where she received an MFA. Kiyomi Gork has exhibited at Empty Gallery in Hong Kong, GES-VAC in Moscow, SFMOMA, The Lab and Queens Nails Projects in San Francisco, 356 Mission Rd, Machine Project and the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles. She has participated residencies at Skowhegan, EMPAC, Mills Collage and Schloss Solitude in addition to receiving multiple grants from the San Francisco Arts Commission, Center for Cultural Innovation and Joan Mitchell Foundation.

Read more

LINK: Rindon Johnson

LINK: Jacqueline Kiyomi Gork

OPEN CALL: NOW PLAY THIS: LIMINAL. THE SPACE IN BETWEEN (DEADLINE: OCTOBER 11 2023)

press release

"Now Play This returns to Somerset House in Spring 2024 with a new edition of the festival. As in previous years we want to use the festival to delve into a pressing subject, and find ways that games can shed a new light on the unexpected aspects of it. And so, for 2024 we are excited to announce…

LIMINAL. The spaces in between

The theme of the upcoming 2024 edition will revolve around one word: LIMINAL. We aim to explore the spaces in-between.  Liminal can refer to a feeling, a concept, a reality. It may describe a work that defies labelling, a mental state, or the geopolitical situation many face today.  The term ‘liminal’ refers to a state of transition—it could signify the onset of a new phase or the suspension between worlds. Heidegger posited that each work of art opens a world. In truth, they open multiple worlds: those of the artists and those of the audience, or the interactor. Now Play This, therefore, will not only invite visitors into the artists’ imaginations but also encourage them to uncover facets of their own worlds. Amid this convergence, we may find ourselves journeying through the spaces in-between.

OPEN CALL
Deadline: 11.59pm Wednesday 11th October
Submission form

For this new edition we’re once again opening up a call for playful makers and creators to tell us about their work.

We are looking for games (digital, non-digital or mixed), installations, playful activities and workshops in a variety of shapes and expressions that align with the theme of this edition. We are open to other interpretations of the theme, but we do ask you to demonstrate clearly how the work submitted connects to it.

Think about your body, the space that surrounds you and how you perceive it, about the way you relate to others. Think of the immersive walkable woven installations of Ernesto Neto where you can lose your sense of self and feel like walking on air, or the surrealist creations of Bernardo Erlich that play with the senses and invite us to wonder about parallel realities. It could be any playable installation or site specific work that toys around space, light and materials and invites its audience to jump into new worlds like Mary Poppins paintings or Alice’s rabbit hole. Think also about architectural wonderlike gameworlds like the worlds Moshe Linke or Connor Sherlock create, or mystic scenarios where the rules fade away such as Proteus, or even platformer games like Limbo. Think also about games that deal with migration and blurry limits as political manifestos like Bury me, my Love or Papers Please.

Now, switch perspectives, close your eyes and look inside you. Think about the transitions you made or are going through, about the person you used to be and who you are now or who you want to become. Think about that feeling of being between stages that we all have at different points of our life. It could be something abstract like Gris or a life inspired game as Mainichi. A psychological experience such as What remains of Edith Finch or a narrative journey as Kentucky Route Zero.

All in all, liminality exists on the margins, the borders, and the transitions. Liminality is all about the-spaces-in-between.

Your proposal can:

• • touch on the concept of liminality from an aesthetic perspective whether it is from a narrative, visual or experiential way. 
  • investigate liminality from a social, conceptual or theoretical perspective.
  • defy traditional categories and be about playfulness, experimentation and creation.
  • envision different presents and futures. It should be a work that fosters new cultures and identities. 
  • reflect critically on the meaning of being in liminality as a transitional state of living from a political outlook, a psychological approach, a queer perspective or a cultural point of view. 

We are particularly interested in proposals (games, playful installations and activities) that:

• • are games (digital or physical) that give the player a non-traditional position
  • take place outdoors, re appropriating and re-signifying public space, creating liminal experiences between public and private: e.g. walks, street games, sounds landscapes.
  • family friendly experiences that foster the interaction and dialogue between family members. 
  • liminal playful activities inspired, centred or around games that can happen either on-site or virtually. For instance tours within a game, alternative ways of playing together, conversation encounters around existing games from an outside videogames perspective.
  • workshops and talks around liminality and games, whether it refers to the game making process, aspects of games themselves or the world around them.

We welcome submissions of unfinished or prototype work, and can work with creators to realise a finished piece for the festival.

We aim to be as inclusive as possible and work to accommodate all access requirements. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch with [email protected]! We will happily discuss and tailor how we do things to support you as best we can. 

To submit your idea please complete the open call form here. If you can, try to submit before the deadline since we’ll be reading all submissions as they come in.

Additional information:

We strongly encourage submissions from marginalised and underrepresented creatives within games and playful art.
The festival pays a honorarium for exhibited projects and provides all hardware required to display (where applicable). We can also cover additional expenses required to showcase work depending on the scope of the piece.

While we would love to see you there, creators are not required to attend the festival for their work to be presented, and we are actively seeking to reduce the impact of travel associated with festivals like ours. If a work is dependent on your presence, e.g. an outdoor workshop, then we will cover limited train travel and accommodation expenses. We are open to working with you on realising your submission without your presence on site, either by supporting you to run your work online/remotely, by training facilitators and/or players to deliver your work based upon materials or instructions that you provide, or by other creative means.

We will aim to respond to all submissions by Thursday 30th November. Due to the volume of submissions we receive we will not be able to provide detailed feedback. 

If you have any other queries, comments or feedback then please email [email protected]"

LINK: Now Play This: LIMINAL. The space in between open call (special thanks to María Luján Oulton)

MOD: 2GIRLS1COMP'S F*** THE POLICY (2023)

The rumors are true. The elusive collective 2girls1comp strikes back with a new mod for Grand Theft Auto V that makes the police read the player's rights - that is, Rockstar Games' End User License Agreement (EULA)-  when their avatars are being actively sought by the cops. We can't think of a more punitive measure.

Download the mod here and start informing your best friends about this very important policy because they might be infringing it without even knowing it (imagine that!).

Live life at its fullest potential: embrace modding. 

Last but not least, if you enjoy this kind of tactical subversion via popular culture, we strongly recommend Robert Sikoryak's masterful graphic novel Terms and Conditions.

previously, by 2girls1comp: Every Thing, Towards and Philosophy of the Photo Daddy and The GTA V Piano of the Dead. 

LINK: F*** The policy

NEWS: SARA SADIK FOR BMW

Marseille-based artist Sara Sadik will introduce a e film and a video game specifically designed for BMW i5, debuting at the iconic KOKO venue in Camden Town. Curated by Attilia Fattori Franchini, this pioneering multi-platform endeavor merges art, technology, and design.

The unveiling of both works is scheduled during Frieze London, a vibrant event taking place from October 11th to 15th, 2023. This year's edition of the fair marks its 20th anniversary, promising an international flair and a rich array of cultural partnerships and events, including the BMW Open Work program.

Sara Sadik's artistic expression lies at the crossroads of fiction and documentary. Drawing inspiration from video games, anime, science fiction, and French rap, the artist crafts transformative narratives centered around characters on quests for moral and physical evolution. She has produced groundbreaking machinima among others. Her commission for Frieze London encompasses an interactive playable game, exclusively designed for the all-new, fully electric BMW i5 in collaboration with experts from BMW Gaming and Innovation Lab. Additionally, a video installation will grace the exterior of KOKO as well as the BMW Lounge. Collaborating with BMW i5 designers, Sadik will infuse technical ingenuity into the game’s conception, enhancing the in-car gaming experience through elements like sound and light.

Entitled LA POTION (EH), Sadik's commission employs computer-generated scenarios to delve into the fluctuating emotional states of young male characters. Her world-building techniques render emotions visible while exploring the nuances of masculinity, its ethical and moral frameworks, and the insights it offers into broader societal structures.

Following in the footsteps of Nikita Gale (2022), Madeline Hollander (2020-21), Camille Blatrix (2019), Sam Lewitt (2018), and Olivia Erlanger (2017), Sadik joins the roster of artists chosen for the BMW Open Work initiative, an example of corporate-sponsored/product-placement artistic projects which has been addressed in the past by the likes of COLL.EO (see Carjacked) among others.

LINK: Sara Sadik for BMW

EVENT: AREAS OF EFFECT: PLANAR SYSTEMS, CRITICAL ROLES, AND GAMING IMAGINARIES (SEPTEMBER 2 2023, LONDON)

Areas Of Effect: Planar Systems, Critical Roles, and Gaming Imaginaries

Symposium and live play sessions

2 Sep 2023, 11:00am - 8:30pm

Part of arebyte 2023/24 programme The Body, The Mind, The Soul

arebyte

Java House, 7 Botanic Square

London City Island E14 0LG

 

press release

Could role playing games hold the potential to forge new communities or serve as tools for activism?

Curated by artist David Blandy and writer Jamie Sutcliffe in association with Strange Attractor Press, Areas Of Effect: Planar Systems, Critical Roles, and Gaming Imaginaries is a one-day symposium on Tabletop Role Playing Games (TTRPGs) with live game sessions.

Forming part of arebyte’s programme The Body, The Mind, The Soul which questions the complex nature of humanity in the realm of technological progress, the event brings together artists, game designers, theorists, and philosophers to discuss these wildly expansive forms of play in which players utilise both their imaginations and chance mechanics (such as dice rolls) to determine the actions of fictional characters and the scenarios surrounding them.

The symposium looks at TTRPGs as the physical interface between the body and the imaginary, addressing the hopes currently instilled in tabletop play to act as a transformative activity. As such, this form of play presents novel opportunities for immersive experience, problem solving, moral dilemma, but perhaps most importantly, communal storytelling.  

While an increasing number of contemporary artists have started to embrace the form and bring tabletop gaming mechanics into the development of participatory artworks, the TTRPG community itself remains a remarkable testing ground for the possibilities of play as a kind of “empathic technology”. Here, critical play is capable of strange things... might it temporarily untether us from the stagnant imaginaries of a post-capitalist inertia? Could role-playing games even come to function as vital tools for activism, or the forging of new communities?

Speakers at the event include acclaimed RPG designers Emmy Allan, Kayla Dice, Mike Mason, Chris McDowall, Samuel Mui, and Zedeck Siew, alongside writers, historians and theorists such as Stu Horvath, Timothy Linward, Mark Pilkington, and Simon O’Sullivan.

An exhibition of TTRPGs-inspired video games by artists Kitty Clark, Uma Breakdown, John Powell-Jones, Petra Szemán, and Holly White are hosted on computers and available to play for visitors throughout the whole event.

The day culminates in live TTRPG play sessions of the games Eco Mofos by artist David Blandy and SUPERZEROES by TTRPG game designer Samuel Mui, amongst others, inviting the audience to play with a deck of uniquely designed TTRPG playing cards.

LINK: arebyte TTRPG symposium

EVENT: NSFW (AUGUST 4 2023, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA, USA)

NSFW

Friday August 4th, 2023
7-11 PM
During the Unblurred gallery crawl

205 North Evaline St
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA

press release

An evening of X-rated games dealing with sex work, pornography, internet censorship, gay hookup culture and much more.
All the projects in the exhibition, while not pornographic, challenge the notion of games as children’s entertainment, and push at the boundaries of what is thematically accepted in a playable form. Viewer discretion is advised.

Works by: Robert Yang /// Fellatia G /// Lena Chen, Goofy Toof, Maggie Oates, Avatar Lilith /// Pierre Corbinais /// Seemingly Pointless /// Heather Kelley

LINK: LIKELIKE

EVENT: MACHINE VIOLENCE (MAY 5 - 31 2023, NEW YORK)

MILTOS MANETAS, RGB, 1998, oil on canvas, 40 x 48 in 101.6 x 121.9 cm (MM0001)

 

Machine Violence
May 5 - 31, 2023
Opening reception Friday, May 5
6 - 8pm  Postmasters 4 Bond Street, 10012, NYC

press release

Featured artists: Chando Ao, Damjansi, Huntrezz Janos, Gracelee Lawrence, Miltos Manetas, Eva and Franco Mattes, Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw,Eddo Stern

Postmasters 5.0 is a moving target - our next exhibition will occupy a spectacular ground floor space on Bond Street in downtown Manhattan.

Machine Violence is a show for this moment, a visually stunning exhibition of topical relevance. It will bring together works in all media from software to painting.  Several historic projects by digital pioneers (McCoys, Matteses, Manetas) will be presented alongside current works of the new generation (Huntrezz, Damjanski).

Machine violence invariably fosters fear and disruption on an individual or societal scale. As artworks in this exhibition attest, it is left to humans - artists, in this case - to redirect, subvert, and/or transcend the literal narrative.

Fitting the current moment of intense uncertainty along the art-technology axis, this show can potentially triangulate two significant museum exhibitions currently on view in New York: Signals at MoMA and Refigured at The Whitney Museum.

The exhibition location, a former carpentry shop with skylights, brick walls and a 20 foot-tall ceiling, will be cleaned but otherwise left “as is” - raw - freeing the artists’ projections, screens, sculptures, prints and paintings from the homogeneity of a white box. Art can survive anywhere. Joining a salient history of co-opting raw spaces for art: Gavin Brown's Harlem space, Triple Candie, The Project, Sculpture Center - we will continue this countering flow at the moment of extreme showroom effect.

The exhibition centerpiece will be Horror Chase (2002) by Jennifer and Kevin McCoy, who have worked collaboratively since early 2000 (Kevin McCoy is also widely recognized for creating the first art NFT in 2014). Newly remastered into 4K, Horror Chase is based on the climactic chase sequence from the film Evil Dead 2 re-enacted on a custom stage set. Each shot is digitized individually and processed by a custom computer program that selects clips randomly. The chase becomes a continuously variable incarnation of an endless - and futile - escape attempt. The images are projected on a cinematic scale, and the computer hardware is installed in a black briefcase which forms a part of the installation. Given the recent explosion of interest in generative art, the McCoy's piece may be one of the earliest examples of algorithmically created cinematic footage - a software/hardware combination of object and projection.

EVA AND FRANCO MATTES, Freedom, 2010, single-channel video(color, sound), monitor, inflatable mattress, cables, media player(optional), dimensions variable; running time: 8:56 mins, edition of 3 (#2/3), (EFM072)

 

Eva and Franco Mattes are the notorious Italian artist's team working with internet and digital media since the late 1990s. One of their most iconic works, Biennale.PY, Perpetual Self Dis/Infecting Machine (2001-2003) is an aesthetically alluring, customized computer encased in plexiglass, with all parts exposed. It only has two software programs installed:  the virus that the artists made in 2001 for the Venice Biennale, and the "Norton Utilities" antivirus patch. The computer is in a perpetual mode of being infected, then disinfected, then rebooted; a machine locked forever in a fight between good and evil.

EDDO STERN, Vietnam Romance, 2003 digital video, NFT Time 19:09 (ES0018)

 

MILTOS MANETAS, Flames, 1997, digital video file, machinima, NFT, time 23:49, Edition of 3 (MM0002)

 

There will be three early key works of machinima in the show: Miltos Manetas’ Flames (1997) of Lara Croft committing suicide; Eddo Stern’s masterwork Vietnam Romance (2003) where key war scenes are recreated through video games like Grand Theft Auto and MASH; and Eva and Franco Mattes’ Freedom (2010), a haunting montage of death scenes from iconic first-person shooter games.

 

Damjanski will present his app, Bye, Bye Camera (2020), the AI-powered camera for the post-human era, which automatically removes people from any picture someone takes. The tool digitally detects and erases body shapes, but keeps human traces like shadows. The app will be shown along with photographic prints of Post Human Dog (2020),  his pandemic-time series of dogs with no owners.Gracelee Lawrence will present two large scale, 3D-printed sculptures of fragmented, battered bodies.

 

Jen Catron and Paul Outlaw  are making a lamp, a huge, functioning, fruit flies - killing zapper encased in plexiglass.

 

Chando Ao’s kinetic sculpture in the show will be a computer driven chair/cradle for grownups that belies its mean and ominous torture device look, to soothingly rock the sitter.

 

Huntrezz Janos will show - as AR - two Instagram filters that recast the user as armored, warrior-like characters and a related 3-D printed sculpture.

 

Also on view will be Miltos Manetas still life paintings of computer components from 1998-2010. A mid-show performance is planned where Manetas will, via WhatsApp and a local assistant, paint a still life remotely from Bogotá.

 

LINK: MACHINE VIOLENCE

CALL FOR ARTWORKS: THE ART OF GAMES IN GREECE 2023

The Athens Digital Arts Festival (ADAF) and the Game Developers Association of Greece (GDA Greece) are organizing The Art of Games in Greece (A.G.G.) 2023, inviting creators to reimagine digital games in Greece.

This joint project aspires to promote game development in Greece and contribute to the recognition of digital game as a form of contemporary art while encouraging creators and audiences to engage in this field. A.G.G. consists of three complementary parts: the “Crown” and “Blossoms” competitions, and the “Pollen” series of seminars and workshops.

The competition section is focused on games related to the theme of ADAF 2023, “Welcome to the Uncanny”. Both competitions are exclusively for digital games made in Greece, accessible from computers. Winners and finalists, selected by a five-member jury, will exhibit their works on the festival’s online platform, where the audience can play and vote for their favorite games.

CROWN
Crown invites developers with existing games, which they have already announced or published, related to the theme “Welcome to the Uncanny” to submit them through the relevant form to claim mentions and promotion on the festival’s online platform during the event.

BLOSSOMS
Blossoms invites developers to create new games inspired by the theme of ADAF 2023 and claim a cash prize of €1000, in addition to the awards and the promotion on the online platform of the festival.

POLLEN
Pollen, the educational component of A.G.G., consists of a series of sessions aimed at introducing new creators to game development by established professionals in the field. These sessions will be freely accessible on the festival’s online platform.
The detailed program of Pollen will be announced soon.

 •••

The Athens Digital Arts Festival and the Game Developers Association of Greece are working together to highlight the digital game as a work of art. The Art of Games in Greece aspires to create a new point of interest for the development of digital games in Greece and promote them both locally and internationally.

Find more information click here

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*/ The Art of Games in Greece 2023: Κάλεσμα Συμμετοχής

Το διεθνές φεστιβάλ ψηφιακών τεχνών της Ελλάδας, Athens Digital Arts Festival (ADAF) και ο Σύλλογος Δημιουργών Ψηφιακών Παιχνιδιών Ελλάδος (GDA Greece) διοργανώνουν το The Art of Games in Greece (A.G.G.) 2023 και καλούν τους δημιουργούς να επανοραματιστούν το ψηφιακό παιχνίδι στην Ελλάδα.

Η κοινή αυτή δράση φιλοδοξεί να προωθήσει τη δημιουργία ψηφιακών παιχνιδιών (game development) στην Ελλάδα και να συμβάλει στην ανάδειξή τους ως μορφή σύγχρονης τέχνης, παροτρύνοντας συγχρόνως δημιουργούς και κοινό να εμπλακούν με το πεδίο των ψηφιακών παιχνιδιών. Το A.G.G. απαρτίζεται από τρία συμπληρωματικά μέρη: τους διαγωνισμούς “Crown” και “Blossoms”, και τη σειρά σεμιναρίων και workshops “Pollen”.

Το διαγωνιστικό κομμάτι αφορά σε παιχνίδια που σχετίζονται με την θεματική του ADAF 2023 “Welcome to the Uncanny”. Και οι δυο διαγωνισμοί είναι αποκλειστικά για ψηφιακά παιχνίδια made in Greece, προσβάσιμα από ηλεκτρονικούς υπολογιστές. Νικητές και φιναλίστ, που θα επιλεγούν από πενταμελή κριτική επιτροπή, θα εκθέσουν τα έργα τους στην διαδικτυακή πλατφόρμα του φεστιβάλ όπου το κοινό θα μπορεί να παίξει και να ψηφίσει τα αγαπημένα του παιχνίδια.

CROWN
Tα Crown προσκαλούν developers με ήδη ανακοινωμένα ή δημοσιευμένα παιχνίδια που σχετίζονται με τη θεματική “Welcome to the Uncanny” και διαθέτουν δωρεάν demos να τα καταθέσουν μέσω της σχετικής φόρμας για να διεκδικήσουν μνείες και προβολή στην διαδικτυακή πλατφόρμα της διοργάνωσης κατά την διάρκεια του φεστιβάλ.

BLOSSOMS
Tα Blossoms καλούν τους developers να δημιουργήσουν νέα παιχνίδια που εμπνέονται από τη θεματική του ADAF 2023 και να διεκδικήσουν χρηματικό έπαθλο της τάξης των 1000€, επιπρόσθετα με τα βραβεία και την προβολή των έργων στην online πλατφόρμα του φεστιβάλ.

POLLEN
Tο Pollen, το εκπαιδευτικό τμήμα της διοργάνωσης, θα αποτελείται από μία σειρά συνεδριών με σκοπό την εισαγωγή νέων δημιουργών στην παραγωγή ψηφιακών παιχνιδιών (game development) από καταξιωμένα άτομα του χώρου. Οι συνεδρίες αυτές θα είναι προσβάσιμες δωρεάν στην διαδικτυακή πλατφόρμα της διοργάνωσης.
Το αναλυτικό πρόγραμμα του Pollen θα ανακοινωθεί σύντομα.

 •••

Το Athens Digital Arts Festival και ο Σύλλογος Δημιουργών Ψηφιακών Παιχνιδιών Ελλάδος συνεργάζονται για να αναδείξουν τα ψηφιακά παιχνίδια ως καλλιτεχνικά έργα. Το The Art of Games in Greece φιλοδοξεί να δημιουργήσει έτσι μια νέα κοιτίδα ενδιαφέροντος για την ανάπτυξη του ψηφιακού παιχνιδιού στην Ελλάδα και την προώθησή τους τόσο σε εγχώριο όσο και διεθνές επίπεδο.

Περισσότερες πληροφορίες για τη συμμετοχή σας μπορείτε να βρείτε στο online.adaf.gr/GDA_the_art_of_games_in_greece_2023

EVENT: THOMAS HAWRANKE AND LASSE SCHERFFIG (JANUARY 6-19 2023, ONLINE)

COLOSSAL CAVE ADVENTURE – THE MOVIE

Digital video (1024 x 1024), sound, color, 55’ 33”, 2022, Germany  

Created by Thomas Hawranke and Lasse Scherffig

January 6 - 19 2023

Introduced by Matteo Bittanti

vral.org

 

An adaptation sui generis of an early text-based adventure games, Colossal Cave Adventure - The Movie remediates the program developed by Will Crowther in 1976 based on the architecture of the Mammoth Cave complex in Kentucky. The original game used text to describe the environment whereas the animated film uses AI-generated visuals. Every eight seconds, the AI system receives a new textual description, taken from Colossal Cave Adventure’s source code, comprising 379 inputs ranging from narrative descriptions of nature to jargon from the vocabulary of speleologists to single words meaning an object, a compass direction, or an exclamation. The camera constantly moves downwards, digging through geological layers and exposing new cave spaces again and again.

Born in 1977 in Bergisch Gladbach, Germany, Thomas Hawranke is a media artist and researcher whose practice investigates the influence of technology on society and the impact of computational logic onto human-animal-machine relationships. In his eclectic interventions, Hawranke operates at the intersection of performance and video art: a central concern of his is bringing to the surface the ideologies that inform everyday life. Hawranke graduated in Media Art at the Academy of Media Arts Cologne and received a PhD from the Bauhaus-University in Weimar, Germany, with a dissertation on the modification of video games, also known as modding, as a method for artistic research. Since 2005, he has been a member of susigames, an independent art label founded in 2003 that investigates alternative gaming’s approaches, and he is the co-founder of the Paidia Institute in Cologne. His works have been presented at several exhibitions and festivals, including the zkm_gameplay in Karlsruhe and the RENCONTRES INTERNATIONALES PARIS/BERLIN. Hawranke lives and works in Cologne, Germany.

Lasse Scherffig is an artist and scientist with a background in cognitive science/machine learning and computer science. Scherffig is interested in the relationship of humans, machines, and society; cybernetics and the technological infrastructures of communication and control; and the cultures and aesthetics of computation and interaction. His work oscillates between computer science and experimental artistic practices, engineering and amateur/DIY methods, science and humanities. A professor of Interaction Design at Köln International School of Design, he previously served as the Department Chair of Art and Technology at San Francisco Art Institute, where he taught as assistant professor. Scherffig co-founded the artist group Paidia Institute and off topic, magazine for media art. His art projects have been shown at numerous exhibitions. Lasse holds a doctoral degree in Experimental Computer Science from KHM, Academy of Media Arts Cologne.

WATCH NOW

EVENT: VOLUNTARY ATTEMPTS TO OVERCOME NECESSARY OBSTACLES (SEPTEMBER 23 - OCTOBER 29 2022, NEW YORK)

Robert Yang, The Tearoom, Video Game 2017

Voluntary Attempts to Overcome Necessary Obstacles

On View: September 23 – October 29, 2022

Opening Reception: Friday, September 23, 2022, 6-8 PM

curated by Nicholas O’Brien

The Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts
323 West 39th Street
New York, NY 10018
P: (212) 563 5855 x244
E: [email protected]

Featured artists

Pippin Barr
Jeremy Couillard
Charity Porpentine Heartscape
Nathalie Lawhead
Everest Pipkin
The Escape From Woomera Collective
Studio Oleomingus
Angela Washko
Robert Yang

press release (excerpt)

EFA Project Space presents Voluntary Attempts to Overcome Necessary Obstacles, a group exhibition of artists, designers, and developers exploring the boundaries of games as an artistic medium. This exhibition attempts to sidestep the reactionary debates of whether “games can be art” and instead highlights works that have already put an end to this question. By bringing these works together at EFA Project Space, curator Nicholas O’Brien, wants to show contemporary art audiences how games have been having parallel (or shared) conversations about politics, society, history, and identity in equally nuanced, poetics, and critical ways.

Studio Oleomingus, Folds Along a Separation, Video Game, 2022

LINK: Voluntary Attempts to Overcome Necessary Obstacles