Event: Punk Arcade (November 7-9, 2013, UCLA GameLab) [updated]

PUNK ARCADE a UCLA GAME LAB EVENT

November 9, 2013, 5:00 - 8 pm, free and open to the public

Punk Arcade is a DIY games exhibit presenting works that are independent, minimal, offbeat, and sometimes gritty.

Curators team up with artists, students and designers to race against the clock to build a videogame art exhibition inspired by punk and DIY culture.

WESTWOOD, Calif. (Nov. 2, 2013) -- On November 9th, from 6pm to 9pm, The UCLA Game Lab will host Punk Arcade, a videogame art exhibition inspired by rapid prototyping and DIY culture. The exhibition will take place at the EDA space at UCLA. The show is a product of an intensive 3-day workshop November 7-9 where curators Sarah Brin and Lee Tusman will team up with local artists, students and game designers to build an entire exhibition from scratch. For a single night, the space will be transformed into a massive celebration of independent, minimalist and accessible game culture.

Similar to punk music, Punk Arcade is inspired by rebellion, minimalism and creative improvisation. While access to game-making tools were once limited to gigantic commercial corporations, Punk Arcade is based on the premise that we now live in a world in which almost anyone can make a game with easy to use tools like GameMaker, Scratch and Twine. What has resulted is a polyphony of voices, experiences and subject materials that had previously been missing from games culture.

Punk Arcade is comprised of three events and blocks of studio time over the course of three days.

Introduction to Punk Arcade
Thursday, November 7, 5-7pm, EDA Space at UCLAThe opening event will include a presentation by co-curator Sarah Brin on the exhibition’s curatorial premise, including its roots in Russian Constructivism, CBGB and the pixel. Participants will break up into project groups, and will choose to work on making a game, an arcade cabinet, or the exhibition’s zine. Both students and members of the public are welcome to participate in the workshop and to create work for the exhibition.  RSVP to tyler@games.ucla.edu.
Mini-Crit and Playtesting
Friday, November 8, 11am-1pm - EDA Space at UCLATeams will present their works in progress and receive feedback and support from curators Lee Tusman and Sarah Brin, followed by workshop time. This check-in is meant to insure that all the projects are thematically relevant to the exhibition and that all projects will be functional by the opening. This event is limited to workshop participants.

Punk Arcade Opening and Party
Saturday, November 9, 6-9pm, EDA Space at UCLACome celebrate the work of Punk Arcade with an exhibition opening with refreshments! This event is open to the public.

About the Curators

Sarah Brin is a writer and curator based in Los Angeles. She has created exhibitions and programs for the SFMOMA, MOCA, The Armand Hammer Museum, the Zero1 Biennial, and other arts institutions across the country. You can learn more about her work at sarahbrin.com.

Lee Tusman is an artist and curator in Philadelphia. Tusman has curated dozens of exhibitions and public projects for a diverse group of universities, galleries, institutions, alternative spaces and public interventions. He is Creative Director of Hidden City Philadelphia and a Curatorial Member of Little Berlin. Tusman’s projects straddle the intersection of ideas that are socially-based, urban in nature and that combine unconventional practices with traditional visual art media. leetusman.com.