GAMESCENES

GAME ART: VICTOR MORALES'S RAPID TRANSIT (in progress)

Victor Morales is working on a new, ambitious and intriguing project titled Rapid Transit, an animated science-fiction video and VR experience performed in a video game engine. As Morales writes,

It is about riding the NYC subway in  the 2050s, maybe later. High percentage of the riders wear vr/ar systems//things combined with electric stimulants or lectrics. The subway is the subway, people always  ignoring one and other, dancers doing elastic moves to rhythmless music/noise interrupted by beeps and synthetic shouts popping out of devices like rings and bracelets using holograms with hovering capabilities and sh!t. Homeless people giving advice, cursing In Rapid Transit, on a late weekday night,  a rider under the influence takes the subway, unbeknownst to what the ride will do to them.

Below are some prototype videos:

Stay tuned for several updates. 

LINK: Victor Morales

GAME ART: LUYANG'S THE GREAT ADVENTURE OF MATERIAL WORLD (2019)

This looks phenomenal! A spin-off of Lu Yang's 2018 masterpiece Material World Knight, The Great Adventure of Material World will be released soon, according to the artist.

Lu Yang was born in 1984 in Shanghai and lives and works in Shanghai and Beijing. The artist received a BA as well as an MA in the New Media Art Department at the China Academy of Art in Hangzhou, near Shanghai. Lu Yang earned two degrees from the new media art department of the China Academy of Arts, and has been featured in important solo and group exhibitions at venues such as the UCCA in Beijing, Centre Pompidou, and DFB Performance Gallery (Chicago), Chronus Art Center (Shanghai), Momentum (Berlin), and Tampa Museum of Art. Some of her notable projects include Kimo Kawa Cancer Baby (2014), Uterus Man (2013), and Wrathful King Kong Core (2011), often in collaboration with performers, designers, experimental composers, and controversial figures such as Mao Sugiyama. Lu Yang's multimedia installations (often combining video, sculptural elements, lighting and soundtracks made in collaboration with different musicians) explore neuroscience, mortality, pop culture, technology, and religion. 

LINK: Lu Yang

GAME ART: RAÚL ENTTER & MÓNICA RIKIĆ'S WE WILL NEVER FORGET (2019)

Created by Raúl Entter & Mónica Rikić, We will never forget uses Openframeworks + Kinect Videogame Installation produced for Negocio, a critical game exhibition. Here's the description:

Pope Benedict XVI was accused of conspiracy to cover up sexual abuse in the United States. At the Vatican's request, President Bush granted the pope immunity from prosecution.

Raúl Berrueco, better known as Entter, is a Spanish visual artist who studied Fine Arts at the Basque Country University. Born in Santander in 1977, Entter worked as a motionographer, digital designer and Art Director for web and media. As visual artist, he worked as professional video jockey and performer for years, collaborating with electronic musicians on acclaimed audiovisual shows. 

LINK: Raúl Entter

CALL FOR ENTRIES: MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL 2020 (DEADLINE: DECEMBER 1 2019)

MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL 2020

March 2020

IULM University

Via Carlo Bo 2,

20143 Milano, Italia

WE ARE DELIGHTED TO ANNOUNCE OUR OFFICIAL CALL FOR ENTRIES FOR THE THIRD EDITION OF THE MACHINIMA FILM FESTIVAL, SLATED FOR MARCH 2020.

The third edition of the MACHINIMA FILM FESTIVAL will take place at IULM University (Milan, Italy) in March 2020 during the Milano Digital Week. Sponsored by the City of Milan, Department of Digital Transformation and Public Services, the Milano Digital Week celebrates the driving forces that are reshaping work, leisure, and learning.

Filmmakers and video artists engaged in the practice of appropriation, repurposing, and creative remix of video games are encouraged to send us their work for consideration. All submission will be judged by an international panel of jurors and a selected number will be featured in the main program. A Critics' Award will be awarded during the ceremony. 

Screenings of selected works will be curated around different themes, to be announced. The most interesting submissions are those which seek to capture or highlight a specific facet of contemporary life - from politics to art, from violence to creativity, from technology to ideology - through the aesthetic lenses of digital gaming. The deadline for submissions is December 1, 2019.

The full program will be announced in February 2020.

Please carefully read our simple submission guidelines and requirements below before sending your work.

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INTERNATIONAL OPEN CALL FOR NEW MEDIA ARTWORKS

GUIDELINES:

The Milan Machinima Festival defines machinima as any digital video made using video games technology (game engines, game tools, assets such as characters, items, environments etc.).

Submissions must feature machinima made with specifically with video games (not virtual worlds, e.g. Second Life).

Submissions must be 10 minutes or less in length. The minimum duration is 1 minute.

Submissions must have been produced between January 1, 2019 and December 1, 2019.

Multiple versions of the same machinima will not be considered.

Acceptable submission formats: Digital video files only.

Acceptable exhibition formats: mp4, avi, mpg, Quicktime file (ProRes 422).

All applicants must complete the official festival submission form located on filmfreeway.com.

One-time, nominal submission fee: $15 or 15 euros payable via PayPal to the festival organizers.

The applicant holds the sole responsibility of copyright clearance of any copyrighted material in the machinima.

The submission must include an accompanying artist statement/description no longer than 500 words.

The MMF is under no obligation to provide comments regarding submitted machinima to any applicant.

Submission deadline: December 1, 2019.

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LINK: MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL

LINK: MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL 2019

LINK: MILAN MACHINIMA FESTIVAL 2018

EVENT: CHRIS HOWLETT'S NEW STATEMENTS (15-17 MAY 2019, BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA)

New Statements is a new media exhibition by Chris Howlett that showcases an installation of interactive and screen-based machinima works that were developed from 2016-19 for his PhD. This practice–led research project explores the operations of a ‘techno-stice’ that demonstrates digital technology's capacity to generate dissensual space in the form of new subjectivities and ethico-political perspectives in contemporary art.

Chris Howlett, Joystick Drama, 2017-2019

LINK: Chris Howlett

EVENT: 30 ANOS DE GAME BOY (MAY 22 - OCTOBER 11 2019, SARAGOZA, SPAIN)

30 años de Game Boy: Una consola en el mundo del arte @ ETOPIA
22nd may-11th october 2019 // Centro de Arte y Tecnología
Avenida Ciudad de Soria, 8. Acceso por Avenida Autonomía 7
Zaragoza, Spain

Tres décadas más tarde de que la consola Game Boy fuera objeto de deseo, cuyo fin era el entretenimiento, un ecosistema de pixeles y sonidos que marcaron nuestra infancia, se reúnen en torno a esta exposición a artistas internacionales de distintas disciplinas que enfocan sus creaciones desde una actitud irreverente frente al paso del tiempo, dotando a la exposición de cierta resiliencia tecnológica.

Las obras artísticas que aquí se presentan son procesos complejos multidisciplinares de creación. El telos de la consola ha cambiado; aquí el juego varía de lo objetivo a lo subjetivo, introduciéndose las variantes de la modificación, lo visual, lo sonoro y las adiciones tecnológicas. A través de los diferentes componentes de la consola y su modificación y adaptación, así como de la combinación, se ha conseguido obtener resultados complejos, comportamientos diferentes a nivel de acción en la pantalla, a nivel estético de resultado y a nivel metafórico y semántico.

La recreación, reutilización y reciclaje del soporte tecnológico son afrontados desde una visión holística, donde cada detalle, por pequeño que sea, cuenta, porque forma parte de un sistema semántico de reinterpretación del pasado para generar un nuevo producto artístico, ya no de consumo, sino de deleite estético-crítico.

En este contexto, la exposición reúne obras de los artistas Bubbyflish (Corea del Sur), Daniel Canogar (España), Jean Jacques Calbayrac (Francia), Paul Catanese (EEUU), Clint Enns (Canadá), Gijs Gieskes (Holanda), Maia Koening (Argentina), Raquel Meyers (España), Joey Michalina Mariano (EEUU), Dmitry Mozorov (Rusia), Davit Ruiz (España), Toriena (Japón) e Ira Torres (España).

LINK: 30 ANOS DE GAME BOY  (Thanks to Raquel Meyers)

EVENT: OPEN WORLD: VIDEO GAMES AND CONTEMPORARY ART (OCTOBER 19, 2019 - FEBRUARY 2, 2020, AKRON, OHIO)

Suzanne Treister, Fictional Videogame Still/Q, 1992 (via Akron Art Museum)

OPEN WORLD: VIDEO GAMES AND CONTEMPORARY ART

AKRON ART MUSEUM

ONE SOUTH HIGH

AKRON, OHIO 44308

United States of America

According to a 2015 Entertainment Software Association survey, 155 million Americans play video games. Visual artists are gamers too, yet video games are rarely examined as a major influence on contemporary art. Open World draws attention to this phenomenon through the presentation of artworks including painting, sculpture, textiles, prints, drawings, animation, video games, video game modifications and game-based performances and interventions by makers who self-identify as artists.

The artworks in Open World reference a broad cross-section of games, ranging from early text adventure and arcade games to modern massively multi-player online roleplaying games and first-person shooters. Participating artists are influenced by some of the most beloved video game franchises including Super Mario Brothers, The Legend of Zelda, The Sims and Final Fantasy.

The exhibition’s title refers to open-world video games, which allow a player to roam through a virtual world, freely selecting their objectives. The title also draws attention to the rich opportunities video games offer for creative expression. Through games, artists build immersive, alternate words. They use digital games to create meaning through imagery, music, sound effects, animation and narrative. The rules governing the experience of playing a video game can express a viewpoint and encourage critical thinking or empathy by directing the player’s attention to systems at work within the real world.

As part of Open World, the Akron Art Museum is calling for submissions of video games and table top games from developers, students and game-creators for Open World Arcade, a day-long indie game event held at the museum on Saturday, December 7, 2019. Click here for more Information or to submit your game. 

Tim Portlock, Clone, 2012, inkjet print. (via Akron Art Museum)

LINK: OPEN WORLD: VIDEO GAMES AND CONTEMPORARY ART

BOOK: TRAVELOGUE

TRAVELOGUE

by Matteo Bittanti
Release date: May 15 2019
Features: Softcover, 148 pages, color illustrations
Format: 6×9 in, 15×23 cm
Language: English and Italian
ISBN: 9780368668197
Price: $22.99

I'm very happy to announce that my latest book, TRAVELOGUE, is now available from Concrete Press in bilingual edition (English/Italian).

TRAVELOGUE is a survey of audiovisual artworks made with or inspired by video games. Using machinima and interactive installations, fifteen artists examine the virtual automobile as medium, message, technological commodity, status symbol, interface, and prosthetics. Created through a process of appropriation and remix, these works lie at the intersection of fiction and documentation, performance and simulation, video art and experimental cinema.

This book is an extended catalogue of the exhibition TRAVELOGUE that I curated between September 7- 11 2016, in Mantua, Italy as part of Festivaletteratura 2016, featuring artworks by Max Almy and Teri Yarbrow, Hugo Arcier, Dave Ball, William Beaudine, Bob-Bicknell Knight, COLL.EO, Clint Enns, Matthew Hillock, JODI, Kristin Lucas, Victor Morales, Leonardo Sang, Palle Torsson. Available in bilingual edition (English and Italian) TRAVELOGUE is the follow-up to MACHINIMA. 32 conversazioni sull'arte del videogioco, which was released in 2017.

You can purchase a copy of TRAVELOGUE on Blurb orAmazon US It will soon be available on Amazon Italy.

TRAVELOGUE è una rassegna di opere audiovisive – machinima ed installazioni – realizzate per mezzo dei videogiochi. Quindici artisti internazionali esplorano l’automobile virtuale, ivi intesa come mezzo e messaggio, tecnologia e status symbol, interfaccia e protesi. Frutto di appropriazione e remix, queste opere si collocano all’intersezione tra narrazione e documentazione, performance e simulazione, videoarte e cinema sperimentale. Questo libro è il catalogo ampliato della mostra TRAVELOGUE curata da Matteo Bittanti nel settembre 2016) a Mantova, nell’ambito di Festivaletteratura 2016, con opere di Max Almy e Teri Yarbrow, Hugo Arcier, Dave Ball, William Beaudine, Bob-Bicknell Knight, COLL.EO, Clint Enns, Matthew Hillock, JODI, Kristin Lucas, Victor Morales, Leonardo Sang, Palle Torsson.

LINK: TRAVELOGUE

EVENT: AN UNREAL UNITY (MAY 16-30 2019, LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA)

Game Design...the Game: Welcome to Inspiration, Now finish the damn game!. PC game, created in Unreal Engine. Courtesy UCLA Design Media Arts.

An Unreal Unity

May 16–30, 2019 

Opening: May 16, 5pm 

UCLA New Wight Gallery 
Broad Art Center, Suite 1100 
240 Charles E. Young Drive
Los Angeles, CA 

An Unreal Unity features screen-based and interactive artwork, large-scale installations, and immersive projection. Themes include the Anthropocene, corporeal estrangement, speculative interventions, and emotional inquest. Participating artists are Hye Min Cho, Kit Kirby, Sara Drake, Isabelle Chen, Lena NW, Phazero, Maru Garcia, Carlos “L05” Garcia, Sam Congdon, Julian Stein, and Paul Carlo Esposito.

Opening reception Thursday, May 16 at 5pm. The exhibition will be open weekdays from 10am to 5pm through May 30.

This event is free and open to the public.

LINK: AN UNREAL UNITY

EVENT: RUPTURES IN VIDEO GAME CULTURE (MAY 15 2019, TORONTO, CANADA)

Ruptures in Video Game Culture

May 15 2019

From 7 to 10 PM

Toronto Media Arts Centre, 32 Lisgar St

Toronto, Canada

As part of the Unfeeling Capitalism series at the Toronto Media Arts Centre, this evening talk brings together game workers, players and artists confronting capitalism, white supremacy, and misogyny in real and virtual worlds. Presented in collaboration with Hand Eye Society, Dames Making Games, Toronto Media Arts Centre, Unifor National, and Game Workers Unite, Ruptures in Video Game Culture features Paolo Pedercini, Gaby Aveiro, SpekWork, and Jordan Sparks.

LINK: Ruptures in Video Game Culture