GAMESCENES

EVENT: HARRISON WADE REISHMAN (JANUARY 17-30 2025)

Ida B. Wells: A Red Record

digital video (1920 x 1080), color, sound, 39’ 34”, 2020, United States of America

created by Harrison Wade Reishman

 

Ida B. Wells: A Red Record is a biographical machinima that examines the life and contributions of Ida B. Wells, a trailblazing African American journalist and activist. Conceived during the Covid-19 lockdown through the innovative use of the Red Dead Redemption 2 game engine, the film transforms Wells’ seminal investigative journalism into a sophisticated cinematic narrative. By leveraging the intricate virtual environments of the game and employing a nuanced narration, the film reconstructs Wells’ relentless documentation of lynching atrocities in the American South during the 1890s, drawing extensively from her landmark publication, The Red Record. The production combines historical accuracy with the creative latitude afforded by video game aesthetics, deploying almost thirty characters to re-enact pivotal moments of Wells’ life. 

Hailing from Hurricane, West Virginia, Harrison Wade Reishman is an accomplished filmmaker and innovator in machinima whose work explores the confluence of traditional cinema and game-driven narratives. A graduate of the University of Virginia with dual degrees in Psychology and Marketing, Reishman combines narrative sophistication with technical expertise in his visual storytelling. His career trajectory includes roles as a UTA agent trainee and a television development executive at Entertainment One, where he contributed to acclaimed productions such as Hung (HBO) and Hell on Wheels (AMC). Transitioning to independent filmmaking, he received a Taliesin Nexus grant in 2018 to direct Crosswinds, and has since directed and produced a series of critically recognized short films. Currently based in Los Angeles, Reishman continues to push the boundaries of machinima as a transformative medium for storytelling.

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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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EVENT: LUKE CASPAR PEARSON (NOVEMBER 8 - 21 2024, ONLINE)

Reyner Banham Loves Los Santos

digital video (1920 x 1080), color, sound, 5’ 15”, 2016, United Kingdom

created by Luke Caspar Pearson

vral.org

 

Reyner Banham Loves Los Santos reimagines Banham’s original exploration of Los Angeles through the virtual lens of Grand Theft Auto V. In this adaptation sui generis of a 1972 BBC documentary, Banham’s vision of a city defined by mobility over monumentality is amplified within the sprawling, simulated metropolis of Los Santos. Just as Banham embraced the freeways and fluidity of LA’s urban fabric, Los Santos takes this mobility to an extreme, where the ability to instantly commandeer any vehicle represents a new kind of urban experience, rooted in speed, freedom, and fluid motion. Luke Caspar Pearson’s machinima reflects Banham’s fascination with the paradoxes of the city – its chaotic structure and capacity for personal liberation. The narrative juxtaposes Banham’s celebration of LA’s automotive culture with the lawless nature of Los Santos, transforming Banham’s intellectual engagement with LA into a playful yet critical examination of the intersections between urbanism, architecture, and video game spaces.

Luke Caspar Pearson is a London-based architect, academic, and co-founder of the design research practice You+Pea, where he explores the intersection of video game technologies and architectural design. As an Associate Professor at the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London, he founded and co-directs the new Cinematic and Videogame Architecture MArch programme, emerging from his work with the innovative Videogame Urbanism studio. His research focuses on how digital tools can engage new audiences with architectural design. Luke is the co-author of Videogame Atlas: Mapping Interactive Worlds (Thames & Hudson, 2022) and his work has been widely published in journals such as eflux Architecture, Design Studies and Architectural Research Quarterly.  His design projects have been featured in exhibitions at venues like the Royal Institute of British Architects, Somerset House.

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EVENT: HUGO ARCIER (OCTOBER 25 - NOVEMBER 7 2024, ONLINE)

LIMBUS IV

single channel video (UHD), color, sound,  8’ 27”, 2024, France

created by Hugo Arcier

 

Limbus by Hugo Arcier is an ongoing machinima series that explores inaccessible spaces within video games such as Rage, Grand Theft Auto V and now Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II through the use of glitches and modding. By positioning the camera in impossible perspectives, such as beneath the ground, Arcier reveals hidden layers of these virtual worlds, transforming glitches from technical errors into aesthetic opportunities. Drawing on the concept of “limbo” as a state of ambiguity and incompleteness, the series presents these digital environments as fragile and transient, exposing the hollowness of the virtual spaces we inhabit. Like its predecessors, Limbus IV invites viewers to reflect on the nature of virtual reality, subverting the conventional structures of video games to offer a philosophical meditation on presence and absence, unrealized potential and shadows of lost data.

Hugo Arcier transcends the conventional boundaries of artistic practice, positioning himself as an “artist in a digital world”. Harnessing the expansive potential of 3D computer graphics, Arcier channels his creative vision into a diverse range of mediums, seamlessly weaving together videos, prints, and sculptures. While his initial foray into the artistic realm was through the realm of special effects for renowned feature filmmakers such as Roman Polanski, Alain Resnais, and Jean-Pierre Jeunet, it is through this trajectory that he cultivated an unparalleled mastery of digital tools, particularly in the realm of 3D graphic imagery. Arcier’s artistic prowess has garnered global acclaim, with his works showcased in prestigious international festivals, including Elektra, Videoformes, and Némo. His creative explorations have further permeated the hallowed walls of Magda Danysz and Plateforme Paris, alongside art venues like the New Museum and the New Media Art Center of Sichuan Fine Arts Institute. Notably, Arcier’s distinctive artistic voice has resonated across the global art landscape, finding a home in revered institutions like Le Cube, Okayama Art Center, and the iconic Palais de Tokyo. He lives and works in Paris.

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EVENT: COLL.EO (OCTOBER 11 – 24, 2024, ONLINE)

REASONABLE TOO

digital video (3840 x 1632), color, sound, 10’ 03”, 2018 (2024), United States/Italy

created by COLL.EO

October 11 - 24 2024

vral.org

 

The second in a series of machinima by COLL.EO examining social and racial tensions in the United States produced between 2018 and 2020, Reasonable Too depicts a fatal encounter between a young man and law enforcement, set against a stark urban backdrop. Utilizing the digital environment of Grand Theft Auto V, the piece juxtaposes the overwhelming force of authority with the vulnerability of the victim, culminating in an execution. The progression of events – from the initial pursuit to the officer’s use of force – offers a pointed critique of systemic violence and power imbalances. By presenting this narrative within the context of a video game, Reasonable Too heightens the sense of helplessness and alienation often tied to real-world tragedies, underscoring the complex relationship between virtual worlds and lived experiences.

COLL.EO (est. 2012) is the dynamic duo of Colleen Flaherty and Matteo Bittanti, whose artistic practice can best be described as a tiresome exercise in recycling other people’s ideas. Known for their breathtaking lack of innovation, COLL.EO specializes in taking the work of others, throwing on a thin veneer of irony, and calling it subversion. After spending an extended period shuttling between San Francisco and Milan, they’ve managed to carve out a niche in Los Angeles, where the air is thick with their smug displays of so-called “appropriation” and “intervention.” Like an art world cover band, they rehash the past with neither flair nor purpose, but somehow they persist.

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EVENT: ALICE BUCKNELL (AUGUST 2 - 15 2024, ONLINE)

The Alluvials

digital video (1920 x 1080), color, sound, 38’ 05”, 2023, United States of America

Created by Alice Bucknell

 

The Alluvials is a seven-chapter video work — and video game — that delves into the politics of drought and water scarcity in a near-future Los Angeles. The narrative unfolds through diverse more-than-human perspectives, including the Los Angeles River, wildfire, a 400-year-old sycamore named El Aliso, and the ghost of the city’s famed mountain lion, P-22. Combining history, futurism, and speculative fiction, The Alluvials examines the complex interplay between engineered ecology, disaster capitalism, and nonhuman systems shaping Los Angeles. The story is presented across various media, featuring custom-built game environments, modified versions of the fictional city Los Santos from Rockstar Games’ Grand Theft Auto V, 3D scans of LA captured by drone, AI-generated “hallucinations” merging historical images of the River with future development proposals, and visualizations of GIS and pollution data of the LA River. The project acknowledges Indigenous unique relationships to water, particularly those of the Tongva People of the Greater Los Angeles Basin, emphasizing that nature is an intelligent system and a technology in its own right.

Alice Bucknell is a North American artist and writer based in Los Angeles. Working with game engines and speculative fiction strategies, their work explores interconnections of architecture, ecology, magic, and nonhuman and machine intelligence.In 2021, they founded New Mystics, a digital platform merging magic and technology. In 2022, they organized New Worlds, an experimental event series expanding on emergent worlding practices, held at Somerset House Studios in London. They have presented their work internationally, with recent exhibitions at Ars Electronica with transmediale, Arcade Seoul, the 18th Venice Architecture Biennale, Honor Fraser Gallery in Los Angeles, Gray Area in San Francisco, Basement Roma in Rome, Singapore Art Museum, The Museum of Modern Art in Fort Worth, Texas, Fiber Festival in the Netherlands, and Serpentine in London. Their writing appears often in publications including ArtReview, Flash Art, Frieze, e-flux Architecture, and the Harvard Design Magazine. They are currently faculty at SCI-Arc in Los Angeles and an Associate Lecturer in MA Narrative Environments at University of the Arts London. In 2023, they are a Supercollider SciArt Ambassador in Los Angeles, a resident of Somerset House Studios in London, and a resident at transmediale in Berlin. Bucknell studied Anthropology at the University of Chicago and Critical Practice at the Royal College of Art in London.

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EVENT: 2GIRLS1COMP (JULY 5 - 18 2024, ONLINE)

Dancing Plague

digital video (1920 x 800), color, sound, 6’ 29”, 2024, Switzerland/Italy

created by 2girls1comp

In Dancing Plague, a mod for Grand Theft Auto V, the game’s traditionally gendered choreography is subverted, forcing every male NPC to dance feverishly whenever the player holds the H key. This intervention spotlights the inherent gender biases within the game’s animation system, where dance moves are primarily designed for female performers, often objectified as sex workers. By redirecting these choreographies to male characters, the mod disrupts the rigid gender binaries coded into the game, creating a spectacle where masculinity is both liberated and challenged. Interestingly, the male NPCs’s hypersexualized dance is mostly ignored by the female characters. Such an outcome becomes a playful and potent critique of the game’s inherent gender politics. To enhance the mod’s immersive experience, Azu Tiwaline, a French Tunisian musician known for blending contemporary electronic music with sub-Saharan trance traditions, was commissioned to create the soundtrack. Her work underscores the mod’s themes of ritual, trance, and liberation, providing a sonic backdrop that deepens the critique of gendered biases in digital spaces.

2girls1comp is a modding duo founded in 2023 by Marco De Mutiis (Italy, 1983) and Alexandra Pfammatter (Switzerland, 1993). Their work changes the logic of video games as an act of creative counter-play, revealing the social and economic fabric in which they are immersed: from reclaiming global digital infrastructures to commenting on free labor within the capitalist ideologies of the gaming industry, to showcasing the way play can influence its subjects through its mechanics. Their projects are distributed within the gaming and modding community, as well as cultural and artistic contexts.

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EVENT: JORDY VEENSTRA (JUNE 7 - 20 2024, ONLINE)

Regression 5

digital video 4096 x 1716 (4k Scope), color, sound (Stereo, -16LUFS; Stereo), 23’ 14”, 2024, The Netherlands

Created by Jordy Veenstra

 

Regression 5 marks a significant evolution in Jordy Veenstra’s acclaimed machinima series, following the groundbreaking technical upgrades introduced in Regression 4. This installment presents a 23-minute experimental “fly-on-the-wall” visual study of the Grand Theft Auto V map through the perspective of a volatile taxi driver. The film’s unique approach mirrors the submarine exploration seen in Regression 4, but shifts to the dynamic, ever-changing surroundings and weather experienced from a taxi cab. By following the taxi driver over several days, the film explores various locales, streets and corners across San Andreas.

Jordy Veenstra is a video editor, experimental filmmaker, machinima artist, and front end developer based in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. In his practice, Veenstra connects video games, experimental narratives and technology through the medium of machinima and his practice of distortion framework, consisting of rules and values that revolve around the distortion of otherwise clear video-game generated images and audio, with the intent of moving away from perceiving the film as a product from a videogame and more as a product of cinema”by using various values found in traditional cinema such as cinematic resolutions and aspect ratios, 24 frames per second, color grading, motion blur and grain. Veenstra’s work has been exhibited internationally, including at the 2020 and 2022 editions of the Milan Machinima Festival.

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EVENT: ADONIS ARCHONTIDES (APRIL 26 - MAY 9 2024, ONLINE)

The Death Trilogy

performance documentation, digital video and audio recorded in The Sims 4, 33’ 05”, 2024, Cyprus

Created by Adonis Archontides

Introduced by Matteo Bittanti

vral.org

 

Za woka genava (I think you are hot), Ya gotta wob’ere! Ya gotta wob’ere! (Don’t give up! Keep trying!) and Za woka genava (I think you are hot) form a trilogy in which Archontides delves into the use of video games as a platform for documenting dual performances, those of himself and his avatar, Adonis (Sim), created within the popular simulation game, The Sims 4. This unique collaboration highlights a peculiar interdependence: although Archontides controls the outcomes of their joint endeavors, both entities contribute essential roles to their creative process. These performances unfold under the passive gaze of an audience, drawn into a somewhat sadistic voyeurism. Yet, crucially, Adonis (Sim) remains unaware of his reality as a digital construct, performing actions dictated by Archontides that, while impossible in the real world, are completely feasible within the game’s algorithmic constraints. The Death Trilogy pushes the boundaries of digital life and death, as evidenced in the final moments of each piece. Here, viewers witness Adonis’s resurrection, a thematic echo of the limitless possibilities afforded by simulated environments.

Adonis Archontides is a multidisciplinary artist who studied Illustration & Visual Media at the University of the Arts in London. His works are satirical and introspective; they often investigate the production of identity as a conscious or subconscious process, and the porosity between fiction, reality, and simulation. Part of his research focusing on his namesake Adonis, an ancient Greek nature deity, revolves around the effects of time on the interpretation of myths. An avid gamer, Archontides believes in the artistic potential of video games which often uses as raw material in his artistic practice. He has been collaborating with an avatar of himself created in the popular simulation game The Sims 4, juxtaposing Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey with an artist’s career trajectory through an episodic narrative. Archontides lives and works in Limassol, Cyprus.

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EVENT: A SHORT HISTORY OF MAPS IN VIDEO GAMES AND VIRTUAL WORLDS (APRIL 2 2024, STANFORD UNIVERSITY)

There, beyond the borders of codes: a history of game maps and glitches

Tuesday, April 2, 2024
2pm to 4:30pm PT
Green Library, Bing Wing, David Rumsey Map Center
459 Lasuen Mall, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305

Signaling the border of the Western world, the Pillars of Hercules have for centuries been the symbol of the end of the known and the beginning of a mystery that has always attracted humanity: the promise of an elsewhere where the rules of reality were organized by other demiurges. In the age of satellites, traces of this apparently disappeared human feeling survive within the simulacra of the contemporary age: video games. A short history of maps in video games will explore how they have organized and evolved not only to sort out data and orient players, but also to respond to the mysteries of life and the human condition, hiding Easter eggs, surprises, glitches and soliciting obsessions, funny missions and odysseys of entire online communities, demonstrating how, even on the margins of the digital world, the enigmas of the human being continue to survive, multiply and proliferate.

Starting from the research carried out for the film A Stranger Quest, shot inside the David Rumsey Map Center, Andrea Gatopoulos will talk about his journey within the existential folds of the virtual through video-essays, short films and stories orbiting around maps. Andrea Gatopoulos is a film director and producer. His productions have been presented at the most prestigious festivals in the world, including Cannes, Berlinale, Venice, Locarno, Rotterdam and hundreds of other film festivals around the world. His projects address virtual realities, uncanny valleys and criticisms of progressivism, but maintain their intimate, sweet longing for simple feelings.

Register here

LINK: There, beyond the borders of codes: a history of game maps and glitches