GAMESCENES

EVENT: IVELINA IVANOVA’S LOW POLY FEVER DREAM (NOVEMBER 22 - DECEMBER 15 2024, SOFIA, BULGARIA)

Ivelina Ivanova's Low Poly Fever Dream

Curated by Andreya Gandeva and Vasil Vladimirov

November 22 - December 15 2024

KO-OP

17 Yanko Sakazov Blvd, Sofia Bulgaria

 

press release
Low Poly Fever Dream merges digital nostalgia with social critique in a multimedia project. At its heart is Bot Brother, an interactive video installation inspired by The Sims and early MMOGs. Bulgarian internet forums and social media comments are fed into an algorithm that generates dialogues for the characters, transforming the familiar virtual world into a stage for uncensored public discourse. Through a series of feedback loops that materialise in the space as objects and characters native to the world of Bot Brother, Ivanova explores how the quest for identity online unfolds as a recursive process, where individuals become both creators and examples of themselves. But as the line between virtual and reality fades, Low Poly Fever Dream questions: What happens when the boundaries dissolve entirely?

The exhibition is part of the official programme of KO-OP Art Space and is realised with the support of the National Culture Fund @nationalculturefund

Read an in-depth review/interview by Gerry Minkova at GameLeap

All images courtesy of KO-OP

Ivelina Ivanova (b.1995) is a Sofia-based new media artist. In 2017 she graduated with a BA(Hons) in Animation from the University of Westminster in London. Her animated short films are recognised by numerous international film and video art festivals, including Annecy International Film Festival and Pictoplasma. Upon her return to Sofia, she expands her field of practice towards live visualisations, projection mapping and interactive installations. Since 2018 she is a part of the team of Phormatik Visual Lab – a studio for digital art and immersive experiences. In 2022 she obtains a Master’s Degree in Digital Arts at the National Academy of Fine Arts in Sofia. Nominee for BAZA Award for Contemporary Art 2023.

LINK: Ivelina Ivanova

LINK: KO-OP

EVENT: ONE TETHERED BIRD (JANUARY 17 - FEBRUARY 21 2025, SEATTLE, WASHINGTON STATE)

Brent Watanabe: One Tethered Bird

The Behnke Family Gallery at Cornish

1077 Lenora Street

Seattle, WA 98121

Jan 17th - Feb 21 2025

 

Brent Watanabe's upcoming solo show at The Behnke Family Gallery at Cornish will include work covering the past two decades, including his Grand Theft Auto interventions (San Andreas Deer Cam, Community Cam, Possessions), several computer controlled installations, MINE VR, his Animal Crossing intervention, and the two new works.

 

Brent Watanabe, San Andreas Community Cam, 2017, studies for computer-controlled installation, Modified version of Grand Theft Auto V

 

Brent Watanabe, Possessions, 2018-19, animation, animation, modified version of Grand Theft Auto V

 

Brent Watanabe, Animal Crossing: All Mine, 2020, video game intervention in Animal Crossing: New Horizon

 

Stay tuned for more news about this monumental exhibition!

 

Brent Watanabe’s art practice defies categorization, fusing traditional techniques with cutting-edge technology to create installations that are at once visually arresting and intellectually engaging. Drawing on his extensive background in drawing and sculpture, Watanabe uses computer programming and electronics to create kinetic sculptures that are at the forefront of a new wave of digital art. Watanabe’s work has been recognized both nationally and internationally, with his groundbreaking 2016 project, San Andreas Deer Cam, receiving over 800,000 visitors in its first three months alone and being featured in publications such as New York Magazine, the BBC, and WIRED. In addition to his solo work, Watanabe has participated in group shows and screenings around the world, including Through Machine Eyes at the NeMe Arts Center in Limassol, Cyprus, Game Changers at MassArt Art Museum in Boston, and Playmode at the MATT Museum in Lisbon, Portugal. With recent solo exhibitions at prestigious venues such as SOIL Art Gallery, McLeod Residency, Jack Straw New Media Gallery, Gallery 4Culture, Anchor Art Space, and the Bumbershoot Music and Arts Festival, Watanabe continues to push the boundaries of what is possible in the realm of digital art. 

 

Read an interview about MINE VR

 

Read an interview about Animal Crossing: All Mine

 

LINK: Brent Watanabe

 

LINK: The Behnke Family Gallery at Cornish

EVENT: ANDY HUGHES (JANUARY 3-16 2025, ONLINE)

Shimmer

digital video, color, sound, 11’, 2024, United Kingdom

created by Andy Hughes

vral.org

 

Shimmer creatively combines photographic assemblage, archival footage, and video game imagery, to interrogate the vitality and agency of materials, positioning pollution and climate change as pivotal concerns while destabilizing the dichotomy between animate and ostensibly inert matter such as “plastics”.

Andy Hughes is a British artist whose practice centers on the littoral zone and the politics of plastic waste, with a significant focus on machinima as a medium to explore the ecological and philosophical implications of pollution, materiality, and human-environment relationships. Hughes studied fine art at Cardiff University and received a scholarship to study photography at the Royal College of Art, London. He was the first artist in residence at Tate Gallery St. Ives. For more than thirty years, he has collaborated with scientists, curators, publishers, NGOs, academics, other artists, and many communities sympathetic to those aiming to examine and consider our relationships with plastic and pollution-related matters. Recent work aims to transcend the conventional trope of “raising awareness” about plastic pollution, instead utilizing machinima as a tool to explore the intersections of weirdness, magic, and Timothy Morton’s philosophical concepts. Through this medium, Hughes reconfigures ecological narratives, positioning them within a broader ontological and speculative framework.

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EVENT: GLORIA LÓPEZ CLERIES AND SIVE HAMILTON HELLE (DECEMBER 20 2024 - JANUARY 2 2025, ONLINE)

The Unreal

digital video, color, sound, 13’ 50”, 2019, Spain/Norway

created by Gloria López Cleries and Sive Hamilton Helle

December 20 2024 - January 2 2025

Introduced by Matteo Bittanti

vral.org

 

A machinima set within a seemingly alien landscape, The Unreal uses a first-person perspective to guide the viewer through the gleaming surface of an untouched mine. The ambient soundtrack, coupled with a soothing voice-over, cultivates a tranquil atmosphere that invites meditation, while subtly revealing the mineral origins of technology and the extractivist dynamics embedded within it. Employing a practice-based methodology, the artists have harnessed video game software to construct an artificial world and engage with the appropriation of visual and narrative conventions associated with techno-colonialism.

Gloria López Cleries works as an artist, educator and researcher at the intersection of artistic research, visual culture and pedagogy. Originally from Valencia (Spain), López is based in Gothenburg, where she teaches on the MFA Fine Art programme at HDK-Valand. She holds a Master’s in Contemporary Art History and Visual Culture (MNCARS, Madrid), as well as an MFA from HDK-Valand (Gothenburg University). Her work critically engages with neoliberal rhetoric surrounding emotional capitalism, online models of productivity, and the politics of care and collectivity. Through her projects, she challenges the vocabularies and iconographies of online social networks. Her recent work explores the spiritual discourses of materiality and techno-mysticism.

Sive Hamilton Helle is a filmmaker, visual artist, and lecturer based in Oslo. She holds an MFA in Film from HDK-Valand and a BA in Film from the London College of Communication. Hamilton Helle’s works have been screened and exhibited at venues such as The Photographer’s Gallery, Fotomuseum Winterthür and the Göteborg Film Festival. Known for her worldbuilding process, she often combines multiple perspectives and crafts narratives that blur the lines between fiction and reality. Recently, her work has focused on complex landscapes shaped by colonialism and industrial activity.

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INITIATIVE: PALESTINIAN VOICES IN GAMES (ONGOING)

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EVENT: PROJECT HASHTAG 2024 (NOVEMBER 15 2024 - APRIL 27 2025, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA)

PROJECT HASHTAG 2024. Photo: National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea

Wish Office & Playing Art Method: PROJECT HASHTAG 2024
November 15, 2024–April 27, 2025

National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Seoul
99 Sejong-daero
Jung District
Seoul
South Korea

press release

The National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea (MMCA; director Kim Sunghee) is pleased to announce the opening of the exhibition for PROJECT HASHTAG 2024, an open call initiative aimed at discovering promising creators and supporting interdisciplinary collaboration in the visual arts. The exhibition will take place from November 15, 2024 to April 27, 2025 at MMCA Seoul.

In partnership with Hyundai Motor Company, PROJECT HASHTAG was launched in 2019 and is now in its fifth year. The project has successfully established itself as a new platform for artistic creation, fostering collaboration among artists, curators, researchers, and other cultural practitioners. This year two teams, Wish Office and Playing Art Method, were selected from among 148 applicants representing diverse fields. Both teams have been working on their projects with the support of KRW 30 million and access to studio space at MMCA Residency Changdong.

Installation view of Wish Office, The Wishes, 2024. Photo: National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea

Wish Office (Kim Raeo, Seo John, Seo Jin kyu, Oh Saeol, and Titanium (Choi Joon Seong)) presents a project called Wish World—a metaverse environment where everyone’s wishes can be fulfilled. This project takes the form of a social experiment, reflecting on the often challenging realities of personal struggles in contemporary society through a game-like experience. Visitors to the exhibition have the option to submit their wishes to be processed through an AI classification system and delivered into the Wish World. The fate of this virtual world—whether it thrives or withers—depends on these submitted wishes. The project explores themes of frustration, desire, and hope, reflecting on the feelings of helplessness, powerlessness, and need for recognition experienced by many people. It incorporates popular cultural concepts such as time travel, reincarnation, and transmigration, recently trending in webcomics and online novels. The project simulates what might happen if these “lucky breaks,” known as hoebinghwan (an amalgamation of the words hoegwi [regression], bingui [transmigration], and hwansaeng [reincarnation]), once reserved exclusively for protagonists, were extended to everyone, allowing participants to see the outcomes of these second chances.

Installation view of Playing Art Method, Playing Art Method, 2024. Photo: National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Korea

Playing Art Method (Cho Hoyoun, Kim Youngju, and Sei Rhee) is a collaboration between Parade & Patchwork, an exhibition planning group led by Rhee Sei, and Loopntale, a media art-based game production team consisting of Cho Hoyoun and Kim Youngju. Playing Art Method proposes a project under the same name to explore the questions that arise when “Video games” are exhibited in an art museum. Through exhibitions, workshops, and animated posters, they aim to generate meaningful discourse on these topics. This project reconsiders the position of games and game developers within the contemporary art ecosystem, establishing branding strategies for these creators. Learning materials that help visitors interpret the meanings within the games are displayed alongside the games themselves, and experts from a range of fields—including poets, game researchers, and art critics—provide insights into the project from various perspectives. These experts act as docents while also showcasing their current or long-term interests, interacting directly with visitors in the exhibition space.

This year’s program also includes a variety of related programs including live game streaming sessions, talks, docent programs, and game walk through workshops in collaboration with experts from different fields. To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the project, a special event featuring past PROJECT HASHTAG participants will also be held, offering a retrospective look at the significance of interdisciplinary collaboration over the past five years.

Kim Sunghee, director of the MMCA, notes, “Just as hashtags connect different subjects and people in our contemporary digital culture, PROJECT HASHTAG 2024 aims to bring together creators from diverse backgrounds to create new artistic synergies and expand the potential of contemporary art.”

LINK: Wish Office & Playing Art Method: PROJECT HASHTAG 2024

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS: BA & MFA IN DIGITAL ARTS WITH UBERMORGEN (VIENNA, AUSTRIA)

UBERMORGEN, Joint Multispecies Ops: Digital Art Department – Jungle Zone – Work Simulation, 2024

BA & MFA in Digital Arts with UBERMORGEN
University of Applied Arts Vienna
Department of Digital Art
Georg‐Coch‐Platz 2
1010 Vienna
Austria

press release

Our four-year diploma program (combined/dual-degree BA/MFA program) is all about pushing boundaries of digital media & artistic context. No formal education needed to apply—just curiosity & motivation. Classes are mainly in English. We’re thrilled to welcome global talents, dynamic collectives, and neurodivergent minds. Oh, and it’s tuition free*.

What we’re looking for in a portfolio: hit us up with whatever you’re into—raw, polished, or anything in between, the actual things or a documentation thereof… WIPs, concepts, sketches, project docs, your socials, 3d/ar/vr, sound experiments, code, photoshop madness, conceptual or chaotic ai, NFTs or crypto ware, pixels & asci, interactive thoughts, offbeat ideas, your personal aesthetics, — include a brief write-up about your experiences and explorations. Describe for us how you approach making things and how you think, tell us about your struggles & obsessions, and the idols, scenes & media you vibe with. Plus add a quick CV & a picture of yourself.

The department gives you flexible spaces, a crew of passionate people, cutting-edge gear, and a vibe shift that unlocks fresh dimensions & alternate realities***. Teaching staff include Douglas Rushkoff, Olia Lialina, Melissa Logan, Christiane Paul, Abdul Shakir Abu Samah, Anika Meier, Kevin Abosch, Domenico Quaranta, Julian Hessenthaler, Tracey Rose, Sreejata Roy, Michelle Kasprzak, Addie Wagenknecht, Joshua Amissah, Andre Croucamp, Inke Arns, Yukiko Shikata, Sarah Grant, and Alexander Nikolic.

Celebrating 40 years of groundbreaking work, Europe’s first media art program, launched in 1984 by visionary artist and theorist Peter Weibel, set the stage as a trailblazer in media art education. Today, UBERMORGEN, the bold team famed for their feral energy and relentless global art actions, leads the department with a decentralized curriculum and through mentorships, and project-based learning.

To apply or learn more, join our online open days on January 7, 11am–3pm CET, 2025.  Contact: [email protected].

* Tuition rates: EU/EEA/Swiss; least developed, other low income countries and lower middle income countries as per OECD list: 24 EUR per semester. Upper middle income countries as per OECD list: 375 EUR per semester. Rest of the world: 750 EUR per semester

***Own the future, set digital art on fire, and disrupt the neoliberal grind! For a world where art isn’t owned by profit!

LINK: BA & MFA in Digital Arts with UBERMORGEN

EVENT: EDWIN LO (DECEMBER 6 - 19 2024, ONLINE)

End Time and The Trajectories of Ancestors

digital video, color, sound, 34’ 26”, 2022, Hong Kong.

created by Edwin Lo

December 6 - 19 2024

vral.org

 

A machinima video essay that intertwines fragments of Native American history with digital landscapes using Far Cry 5 (2018), End Time and The Trajectories of Ancestors explores themes of religious survivalism, cultural memory, and land representation within digital spaces. By overlaying Far Cry 5 ’s depiction of the state of Montana with archival records and testimonies, the project interrogates how video games engage with colonization, land appropriation, and cultural violence, while reclaiming virtual spaces to amplify marginalized voices.

Edwin Lo is an artist and researcher whose practice spans video, image, installation, sound, and video games. His work recontextualizes video games as dynamic spaces for artistic exploration, rather than treating them as static texts. Lo’s approach integrates sound, machinima, and thematic investigations into technology, faith, and the human condition, resulting in a layered, multifaceted engagement with digital media. He holds a Master of Arts from the School of Creative Media, City University of Hong Kong, and his work has been exhibited internationally. Recent exhibitions include presentations by the Goethe-Institut and Para/site in Hong Kong, Palais de Tokyo, Tokyo Arts and Space, the Experimental Sound Studio in Chicago, Loop Barcelona, Image Forum, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and Meinblau Projektraum in Berlin. Lo currently lives and works in Hong Kong.

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EVENT: ISABELLE ARVERS (NOVEMBER 22 - DECEMBER 5 2024, ONLINE)

Liquid Forest

machinima, color, sound (soundtrack: Gaël Manangou, Congo), 8’ 37”, 2023/2024, France/Congo

created by Isabelle Arvers

November 22 - December 5 2024

vral.org

 
Does the white man really not know that if he destroys the forest, the rain will stop? And that if the rain stops, he won’t have anything to eat or drink?” This question, posed by Yanomami activist and philosopher David Kopenawa in La chute du ciel, strikes at the heart of today’s ecological crisis. Scientist Antonio Donato Nobre, in his 2010 TEDxAmazonia talk, deepens this understanding of interconnectedness by describing how each tree “sweats,” releasing over 1,000 liters of water into the atmosphere daily—an essential part of what he calls vertical rivers. Without forests, these rivers vanish, and with them, water itself. This crisis is not confined to the Amazon. In West Africa and Madagascar, iconic baobabs — known for their spongy wood that acts as natural cisterns, storing water critical to local communities — have been dying at alarming rates over the past decade. Liquid Forest immerses viewers in these vertical rivers, offering a journey through baobabs and corals that dissolves binaries and unveils fluid, interconnected realities. The work invites audiences to inhabit a universe where everything is interlinked, delivering a sensory experience that highlights the fragile equilibrium of ecosystems and the pressing need to protect them.

Isabelle Arvers is a French artist, curator, and scholar whose pioneering work at the intersection of art and video games has shaped new media practices for over two decades. She holds a Ph.D. in Art & Games Decolonization, and her research focuses on the artistic, ethical, and critical implications of digital gaming. Arvers is widely recognized for her exploration of video games as a medium for artistic expression, particularly through machinima, which transforms video games into creative tools. As a curator, she has organized numerous exhibitions and festivals worldwide, from Playtime at Villette Numérique in Paris to Jibambe na Tec in Nairobi, and her work is deeply embedded in decolonial, feminist, and queer approaches to gaming culture. Arvers’s projects also focus on challenging borders – both digital and geographical – through initiatives like the antiAtlas of Borders exhibitions. In addition to her curatorial practice, Arvers’s activism and research have led her to collaborate with artists globally, particularly in non-Western countries. Her Art and Games World Tour sought to amplify the voices of marginalized game creators and explore how video games can serve as tools for resistance and alternative storytelling. Her association, Kareron, continues to produce projects related to cyber feminism and alternative media, including TRANS//BORDER, a tribute to Nathalie Magnan. Arvers has also contributed critical essays to a range of publications and curated workshops on machinima and game art to democratize these practices.

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CALL FOR ARTWORKS: FILE SP 2025 (DEADLINE: JANUARY 15 2025)

FILE 2025 – Open Call – Art and Technology

FILE is now accepting applications for the 2025 edition, inviting artists, creators, developers and researchers to submit their projects. This is a unique opportunity to exhibit your work in São Paulo, from July 15 to September 7, 2025, at the renowned FIESP Cultural Center.

We seek innovative and creative projects that integrate art and technology, both national and international, covering diverse areas such as installations, robotics, CGI, virtual and augmented realities, animations, mobile art, games, kinetic art, public art and much more. We value proposals that explore interaction with the public and the use of Artificial Intelligence, in various formats of artistic expression.

As a non-profit cultural organization, FILE promotes experimentation and development in the field of Art and Technology, providing a platform for artists to connect with new audiences. In this 24th edition, the festival continues its commitment to exploring the boundaries between technology and art.

You can also take advantage of the chance to participate in the FILE LED SHOW, exhibited annually at the FIESP Digital Art Gallery, or to lead a session at the FILE WORKSHOP. Sign up using the form and check the guidelines in the regulations.

Project submission: until January 15, 2025

FILE SP 2025: from July 15 to September 7, 2025

Read more about the submission

FILE FESTIVAL