GAMESCENES

EVENT: DANIELLE UDOGARANYA'S SEEING ME, SEEING YOU, SEEING US (OCTOBER 18 - NOVEMBER 26 2023, BOLOGNA & RAVENNA, ITALY)

Danielle Udogaranya, Eden, 2023 © The Sims, EA Courtesy of the artist

Danielle Udogaranya. Seeing Me, Seeing You, Seeing us

October 18 - November 26 2023

Fondazione del Monte in Bologna and at Palazzo Paltroni in Ravenna

FOTO/INDUSTRIA VI BIENNIAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY ON INDUSTRY AND WORK

Bologna and Ravenna, Italy

 

Danielle Udogaranya, known as Ebonix, is a multifaceted content creator, gaming connoisseur, and 3D artist. Her artistic focus lies in portraying groups of faceless individuals, endowing them with a distinct identity. However, unlike her previous works that utilized in-game photography, Ebonix has embarked on a new journey, harnessing the power of digital avatars. What sets this exploration apart is the shift from the real world to the virtual domain, where stereotypes continue to manifest, paradoxically distinguishing between the 'norm' and the 'exception.' Ebonix's ingenious creations bridge this divide by crafting avatars that enable those belonging to marginalized or overlooked categories to finally see themselves represented within the gaming world. This visionary approach underscores the significance of activism and inclusivity not only within tangible society but also in its digital reproductions. In this virtual arena, battles are waged that extend far beyond the ephemeral, emphasizing the enduring impact of Ebonix's work.

Seeing Me, Seeing You, Seeing us takes place at Fondazione del Monte in Bologna and at Palazzo Paltroni in Ravenna, Italy during FOTO/INDUSTRIA.

Danielle Udogaranya (London, UK, 1991)—best known as Ebonix—is a content creator, DE&I Games Consultant and 3D artist. Fuelled by a frustration with the lack of diversity in The Sims 4, she decided to take matters into her own hands by teaching herself 3D modelling and creating hair, clothes and accessories that she felt represented her. Her content quickly led her working directly with The Sims on the addition of over 100 skintones and afro hair, ushering in a generational change for new Simmers. Through her content creation projects create space for black, POC, women, femmes and non-men, Udogaranya has since become an advocate for diversity and representation in gaming and has been featured on Apple, BBC, Vice, The Verge, The Guardian, and many more.

LINK: Danielle Udogaranya

LINK: Seeing Me, Seeing You, Seeing us

EVENT: AUTOMATED PHOTOGRAPHY (OCTOBER 18 - NOVEMBER 26 2023, BOLOGNA, ITALY)

Elephant Juice, 2020, film still © ECAL / Simone C. Niquille

AUTOMATED PHOTOGRAPHY

Curated by Marco De Mutiis, The École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL)

FOTO/INDUSTRIA VI BIENNIAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY ON INDUSTRY AND WORK

18.10 – 26.11.2023 Bologna, Italy

Ex Chiesa di San Mattia

Via Sant’Isaia, 13

Bologna, Italy

 

Description: An increasing number of images are now autonomously produced by machines for machines, in a technological scheme that is gradually marginalising human intervention. “Automated Photography” is an exhibition based on a research project of the Master of Photography programme at ECAL/University of Art and Design Lausanne, which explores the evolution of the digital image and the current role of the photographer. This project is based on the premise that automation is a central process in the definition of photographic practices and contemporary visual culture.

Location: The sumptuous and spectacular appearance of the interior is due to a “modernization” of the ornamental and pictorial apparatus made in the mid-eighteenth century by Pietro Scandellari, Nicola Bertuzzi, and Tertulliano Taroni. In 1799, following the suppression of religious orders by the Napoleonic government, the church was isolated from the convent, deconsecrated, and reduced to storage. The restoration, begun in 1981 and completed in 1994, brought to light what remained of stucco and frescoes. Today it is home to exhibitions, meetings, and conferences dedicated to architecture, urban planning, design, and the study of the historical-artistic-landscape of the territory.

Curation: The École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL) is a school of advanced studies in art and design. Founded in 1821, it is considered one of the most relevant universities in the world in this field. Relying on massive use of photographic images – a key element in today’s visual communication – ECAL’s Master Photography course gives students an opportunity to develop projects in the long term. It especially pushes the boundaries of applied research in contemporary photography with an emphasis on picture dematerialisation through digital manipulation, 3D Computer Generated Imagery, virtual and augmented reality and Artificial Intelligence. From a physical viewpoint, it explores new forms of books, shaping images on various media as well as interactive exhibition design, up to and including the moving image. Taking advantage of ECAL’s numerous collaborations with economic, industrial or cultural stakeholders, this training allows students to regularly rub shoulders with influential figures in fine art photography and commissioned work.

LINK: Automated Photography

LINK: Marco De Mutiis

CALL FOR CONTRIBUTIONS: PHOTOGRAPHY IN VIRTUAL CULTURE (DEADLINE: SEPTEMBER 18 2023)

Following the first successful Virtual Photography Symposium held at the University of Westminster, London in 2022, the University of Westminster are delighted to announce the call for contributions to a new International Conference Photography in Virtual Culture in May 2024. The conference is organised in collaboration with The Photographers’ Gallery who will co-host the event. The aim is to develop a communal space for discussion, forming critiques, thinking and making what can be called ‘virtual photography’.

The last decade has seen a clear shift in the operational frameworks for the production, dissemination and consumption of photographs in contemporary computerised societies. The representational function of the medium is progressively converted to algorithmic and generative processes through computerized connectivity and control. Recent developments of AI systems and expanded reality technologies have exponentially changed the possibilities for image making and the ways in which photographic images might be created and used within, and beyond, virtual space. While this might be exciting times for creators, thinkers and developers, it is also a pivotal moment in the history of the photographic medium, with debates about its materiality, social function and essence taking place.

We invite proposals presenting the following subjects:
• AI, Generative and Synthetic Images
• Digital Communities and Critical practices
• Datasets and Ethics
• Computation and Virtual Space
• Theories of Virtuality
• Digital Labour and Environments
• Sexuality and Vision
• Games and Narratives
• Photography Education
• Virtual Image Systems

We invite conference papers in the form of 20-minute presentations, talks, collaborations, critical essays and visual arguments, addressing any of the above or related topics. We also invite proposals for participatory workshops and demonstrations.

Please send a 200-word proposal, alongside a 50-word biography of each participant, by no later than 18th September 2023 to: [email protected]

If you are proposing a practice or artist talk, please include relevant examples of your work and a link to the project when possible. Selected proposals will be announced in October. All presented papers will be considered for publication in an edited volume.

Unfortunately, we are unlikely to be able fund any travel, visa or accommodation expenses. Registration fees, lunch and refreshments will be covered for participant speakers by the organisers. We plan to hold the event at both the University of Westminster (Regent St Campus) and The Photographers’ Gallery in London. A fee is available to speakers/performers/workshop leaders who aren’t in institutionally-affiliated or in full-time employment.

Should you have any questions, please contact:
[email protected]

Download the call as a .pdf

Conference Convenors
Dr. Paula Gortázar, Lecturer in Photography, University of Westminster Prof. David Bate, Professor of Photography, University of Westminster
In partnership with Digital Programme at The Photographers’ Gallery

LINK: Unthinking Photography

EVENT: NATALIE MAXIMOVA (JUNE 16 - 29 2023, ONLINE)

THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
 
machinima/digital video, color, sound, 8’ 50”, Russia, 2021

Created by Natalie Maximova

 

June 16-29 2023

Introduced by Matteo Bittanti

vral.org

 

A video work that delves into the expansive and boundary-pushing landscapes of the sci-fi video game Cyberpunk 2077, The Edge of the World challenges the conventional perception of endless landscapes, prompting the viewer to question the existence – and perhaps the very meaning – of limits. By exploring the concealed boundaries, documenting the “raw edges” of the game world, and revealing the underlying representational principles, the artist suggests that digital reality is a culturally constructed product. The edges of these virtual realms, with their idiosyncrasies and unexpected functionalities, are not mere endpoints. Instead, they evoke the edges of our familiar world, inviting contemplation and reflection.

Natalie Maximova is an interdisciplinary artist and photographer based in Lausanne, Switzerland. She holds a degree from the ECAL/Ecole cantonale d’art de Lausanne and has also studied at the Rodchenko Moscow School of Photography and Multimedia. Maximova’s work has been featured in numerous exhibitions worldwide, including the 6th and 4th Moscow International Biennale for Young Art, the Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, Balagan!!! Contemporary Art from Russia and Other Mythical Places in Kühlhaus Berlin and the Tbilisi Night of Photography. Her artworks are included in the permanent collections of the Multimedia Art Museum in Moscow and the CitizenM Hotel in Geneva. Maximova’s work has been featured in several publications including Il Giornale dell’Arte, Camera Austria, Bird in Flight, Calvert Journal, and Vice among others. She has also contributed to Screen Images In-Game Photography, Screenshot, Screencast, edited by Winfried Gerling, Sebastian Möring and Marco De Mutiis and published by Kulturverlag Kadmos in 2023.

WATCH NOW

EVENT: FUMI OMORI (JUNE 2 - 15 2023, ONLINE)

Fumi Omori

Home Sweet Home

machinima/digital video (1920 x 1080), color, sound, 2’ 35”, Japan

June 2 - 15 2023

Introduced by Matteo Bittanti

vral.org

 
Home Sweet Home explores personal memories and their translation into physical architecture through Animal Crossing: New Horizons. With a history of frequent relocations, the artist captured their rooms in photographs, preserving emotional connections to past spaces. Animal Crossing, a beloved game providing an idyllic refuge during the Covid-19 pandemic, allowed the artist to craft personalized rooms reflecting their personality. This project questions the impact of translating real-life spaces into the virtual realm. Employing photogrammetry, the artist reconstructs their past homes in the game, blurring boundaries with imaginative architecture. The interplay between virtual and physical layers offers a fresh perspective, showcasing a unique visual hacking method. Automating realities on the virtual plane reveals the intricate relationship between our fragile understanding of reality and memories. Digital reverie becomes an avenue for escapism, confronting the present, future, nostalgia, and denial.

Fumi Omori navigates the crossroads of the cultural diaspora with her transcendent visual language. Currently nearing the culmination of her master’s degree in photography at the esteemed École cantonale d’art de Lausanne (ECAL) in Switzerland, Omori’s diverse cultural experiences serve as a potent source of inspiration. Born and raised in Japan, the artist spent over a decade living in prominent American coastal cities (New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco) before gravitating towards the medium of photography. Her previous stints as a perceptive graphic designer and discerning art director have indubitably permeated her artistic vision.

WATCH NOW

EVENT: NOW WHAT? (APRIL 25 - JULY 9 2023, SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA)

Theo Triantafyllidis, BugSim (Pheromone Spa), 2022, Live Simulation

 

NOW WHAT?
April 25–July 9, 2023

 

SeMA, Buk-Seoul Museum of Art
1238 Dongil-ro, Nowon-gu
01783 Seoul
South Korea

 

Artists: Riar Rizaldi, Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid Productions, Theo Triantafyllidis, Jaewon Kim, Internet Mountain Club, Yoon Jeewon

press release

2023 marks the tenth anniversary of SeMA, Buk-Seoul Museum of Art. With its mission to build sustained connections to the local community, the museum has experimented with a variety of exhibitions and programs. It is in this context that the museum presents NOW WHAT?, an exhibition that requires a deeper level of engagement from the museum, artist, and the audience.

In our contemporary digital media environment, new media is the medium enjoyed by most people. Yet, even such attributes of new media started to stutter and did not work very dramatically as they entered the format of the white cube. It happened since the new media were not inherently unilateral. Historically, attitudes toward art exhibitions have evolved to emphasize the importance of experience and interaction. Yet, there are still some points that leave something to be developed. In particular, the video art that we want to examine in this exhibition has not escaped the limits of receiving the audience on a white wall like an old painting, even in an explosive circulation of the media ecosystem. The experiential layers of video art must be presented in a more complex and autonomous way. Therefore, we materialize the numerous elements that make up their works in a “game-like scenography.”

We invited artists who work with new media in various ways such as film, documentary, interactive video, and live simulation. We then focused on researching their works that resulted in the single-channel video format. First and foremost, Sam Barlow, Half Mermaid Productions is a filmmaker and game developer who created IMMORTALITY (2022), a game that raises questions about the nature of video art by deconstructing the unidirectionality and monolinear structure of traditional cinema. In IMMORTALITY, the player sits in the editing room to unfold and reassemble all the scenes of the three unmerged films to infer the unfilmed events. It is an important and inspirational example that is closely connected to how the exhibition came about. Jaewon Kim talks about the lives of queer people, those infected with HIV/AIDS, and his relationship with his lovers. His works are composed in the form of letters to lovers through the fragmentation of images or reconstruction of memories. We transformed these works into a performative dimension and placed devices for pseudo-emotional experience. Riar Rizaldi focuses on individuals and specific groups in Indonesia and Hong Kong who are marginalized from a socio-economic perspective. In the exhibition, the audience will become marginalized individuals or particular groups in no time through spontaneous performative acts. The mountaineering documentary True of Landscapes (2023) by Internet Mountain Club allows us to take a closer look behind the scenes of the mountain that was not visible to the eyes of mountain hikers. They tell the holistic story of our time—ethnicity, identity, culture, generation, climate—on the actual topographic map of a “mountain”and ask the audience to be witnesses of the times. Taking on the determination of this video work, we concretized our actions and experiences as witnesses. In the meantime, Theo Triantafyllidis creates a live simulation in which an autonomous ecosystem operates. This work in the exhibition space becomes an object of observation and exploration by itself. The intention is to have this work interact with the audience with a sense of observing an ant’s nest as we did as homework when we were young or with an intention to have it as a mirror to reflect on reality. Finally, artist and filmmaker Yoon Jeewon presents a new video work A VERY ABSOLUTE EFFECT ON THE PERCEIVER (2023). It is hoped that the audience will appreciate the exceptional golden ratio and infer the rules that constructed the work. The best way to watch the video works with the most delicious taste might be to learn the rules and connect what is possible within them for an emergent viewing. 

We prepared game-like texts to facilitate the interaction between the interpretive layers of the video works and the fragmented experiences. Among the various formats of games, we focused on “immersive simulation”games. While the player’s actions were limited to essential actions in the early games, it is possible to interact with almost every element of the environment in immersive simulation games. Players can have autonomy and thus practice emergent gameplay in a given environment regardless of their original obligations. In addition, the proficiency accumulated through trial and error creates a deep understanding and immersion in the game’s worldview. 

Taking this into account, the scenography of the exhibition is set in the gray area of the city, which also happens to be the psychological background of the uncertainty of our time and the participating artists. In particular, the exhibition houses an “underpath of an imaginary bridge.” The underpath is a limbo-like space where the audience’s failures return not as defection but as experiences and skills. Here, artists and curators talked about what it would take for an individual’s media experiences and subjective memories to move beyond mere appreciation and become part of a collective experience, memory, and language. The process devised in the underpath has become an activity sheet and is given to all players. While the placeness of this exhibition primarily gives a sense of déjà vu, the activity sheet works as a tutorial and a list of tasks that help the artists to master the experiences and languages they want to deliver through the live action. Now, with the list of missions in hand, the audience (player) will be able to recall our question. 

“NOW WHAT?”
The exhibition expects that the audience to become the player, and determine their own path at will and absorb the rules or languages of artworks through their explorative interaction at the experiential level. We hope the audience to get deeper into the pleasure of watching video art and the essence of what the artists tell in their works. 

LINK: Now What?

EVENT: I’LL BE YOUR MIRROR: ART AND THE DIGITAL SCREEN (FEBRUARY 12-APRIL 30 2023, FORT WORTH, TEXAS)

Nam June Paik, Video Flag Y, 1985. 84 ten-inch television sets, three Plexiglas cases, fans, LaserDisc players, LaserDiscs, and video tapes. 72 x 144 x 50 inches. JPMorgan Chase Art Collection. © Estate of Nam June Paik.

I’ll Be Your Mirror: Art and the Digital Screen
February 12–April 30, 2023

Curated by Alison Hearst 

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth
3200 Darnell Street
Fort Worth, Texas 76107 USA

press release

The Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth presents the landmark I’ll Be Your Mirror: Art and the Digital Screen, a thematic group exhibition that examines the screen’s vast impact on art from 1969 to the present. This exhibition surveys more than sixty works by fifty artists over the past five decades. The artists included examine screen culture through a broad range of media such as paintings, sculpture, video games, digital art, augmented reality, and video. Organized by Curator Alison Hearst, I’ll Be Your Mirror: Art and the Digital Screen will be on view at the Modern February 12 through April 30, 2023.

Screens affect nearly every aspect of life today. Their pervasiveness has bred a 24/7 breaking news cycle, the looming corporate-sponsored virtual-reality “Metaverse,” unlimited accessibility and content, and an ease in how ideas and images are distributed, undoubtably shaping culture in profound ways. This exhibition starts in 1969—the year of the televised Apollo moon landing and the launch of the internet’s prototype, ARPANET—as this was the watershed year where collective connectivity through screens was first mobilized in modern society. This era forged what the media theorist Marshall McLuhan presciently deemed in the 1960s a “global village,” a place where distance is collapsed and people from across the world readily interact. Following this trajectory, contemporary life is hybrid and increasingly mediated through screens. These flat and finite surfaces embody more than what meets the eye—they hold up a mirror to society and contribute to forming meaning in life and mainstream culture.

I’ll Be Your Mirror: Art and the Digital Screen is organized into nine key themes:

liminal space: From the late 1960s to the late 1990s, several artists were working alongside the early major technological developments of the screen: Gretchen Bender, Nancy Burson, Harold Cohen, Vuk Ćosić, Peter Halley, Frederick Hammersley, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Eduardo Kac, Tatsuo Miyajima, Nam June Paik, Lillian F. Schwartz, and Andy Warhol. These artists’ works are highlighted in this section for their innovative processes.

connectivity: Screens connect us with incredible ease to friends, colleagues, a network of other users and players, apps, news, and streaming services. We share—and are shared with—through screens. As culture courses through society via these means, screens are at the axis of most of our interactions, and these connections are a topic interrogated by many artists, including Cory Arcangel, Liss LaFleur, Eva and Franco Mattes, Cassie McQuater, Jacolby Satterwhite, Frances Stark, and Wickerham & Lomax.

surveillance: While we find community through technology, we simultaneously become linked to broader systems of data extraction through our devices. Our information is captured for national security purposes, geo-mapping, and corporate surveillance capitalism, where targeted ads are deployed based on purchases and browsing history. Hasan Elahi, Electronic Disturbance Theater 2.0, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, and Jon Rafman investigate the positive, negative, and humorous aspects of surveillance today.

the repository: Today’s constant stream of data has led to round-the-clock ingestion of content. This informational sphere is made even more accessible via handheld devices. Speaking to a vast and complex array of image and information circulation in the screen age are the artists Morehshin Allahyari, Kahlil Robert Irving, Trevor Paglen, Jason Salavon, Skawennati, and Penelope Umbrico.

digital abstraction: While painters of all genres use technology in their work, artists such as Cory Arcangel, Wade Guyton, Jacqueline Humphries, Laura Owens, and John Pomara explore the intersections of the digital screen and formal abstraction. Historically compared to windows and mirrors, the often flat, rectangular format of paintings also acts like a screen in today’s world—a passageway that disrupts the viewer’s physical space or mirrors contemporary life.

the posthuman body: In the digital age, technology has become an extension of the body. Posthumanism, a concept arising from science fiction, is the idea that humans will be transformed by technological progress. Depictions of the human body in a media-induced world are far from monolithic, as demonstrated by the artists Caitlin Cherry, Petra Cortright, Huntrezz Janos, Guthrie Lonergan, Carson Lynn, Avery Singer, and Hito Steyerl, who traverse concepts of self and portraiture in the technological era.

automation and the loneliness epidemic: The relationship between man and machine is addressed by Cao Fei and !Mediengruppe Bitnik, specifically the tension of isolation in an increasingly automated world. Set in environments where human labor has been replaced by automation, Cao Fei’s and !Mediengruppe Bitnik’s works exemplify the paradoxes of human intimacy in the screen age.

ecology: Electronic debris, such as plastics, batteries, monitors, and phones, fills landfills and off-gasses toxins that contribute to water pollution. Several artists in this exhibition, including American Artist, Alice Bucknell, Simon Denny, Kristin Lucas, Rick Silva, and Elias Sime, demonstrate the complexities of ecology in the digital age.

turning a mirror on ourselves: Holding a mirror to society and ourselves, screens construct reality, molding many of the themes at the forefront of culture today. Through extraordinarily different works, the artists Arthur Jafa and Molly Soda make videos that shine a light on society through the lens of found, vernacular videos already circulating online.

More than 25,000 square feet of gallery space will be devoted to the exhibition, which will include iconic works by prominent national and international artists of the 20th and 21st centuries, such as Cory Arcangel, American Artist, Gretchen Bender, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Arthur Jafa, Nam June Paik, Hito Steyerl, and Andy Warhol, as well as several leading artists living in Texas, including Liss LaFleur, Kristin Lucas, and John Pomara. Several new and never-before-seen works by key artists Caitlin Cherry, Simon Denny, Hasan Elahi, and Kahlil Robert Irving will debut in this exhibition. This is the most in-depth show of its kind in the Southwest region and is one of only a few presentations exploring art and digital technology in the past decade at this scale.

Curator Alison Hearst notes, “Artists have long shone a light on the world and the human experience, and the artists in I’ll Be Your Mirror: Art and the Digital Screen respond to, challenge, and probe new technologies and the cultural conditions these technologies have shaped. Using the screen as a tool and formal device, many of the artists in this exhibition expand the parameters of artmaking through the digital language unique to their generation.”

Publication
The exhibition will be accompanied by a full-color catalogue featuring contributions by Alison Hearst, curator at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; Dr. Omar Kholeif, director of collections at Sharjah Art Foundation; Dr. Tina Rivers Ryan, Assistant Curator at Buffalo AKG Art Museum; and professor and cyberpsychologist Dr. John Suler. 180 pages, 100+ illustrations; published by the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and distributed by DelMonico Books/D.A.P.

There will be an online platform for the exhibition.

Artists in the exhibition:
Morehshin Allahyari, Cory Arcangel, American Artist, Gretchen Bender, Alice Bucknell, Nancy Burson, Caitlin Cherry, Harold Cohen, Petra Cortright, Vuk Ćosić, Simon Denny, Hasan Elahi, Electronic Disturbance Theater 2.0, Cao Fei, Wade Guyton, Peter Halley, Frederick Hammersley, Lynn Hershman Leeson, Jacqueline Humphries, Kahlil Robert Irving, Arthur Jafa, Huntrezz Janos, Eduardo Kac, Liss LaFleur, Guthrie Lonergan, Rafael Lozano-Hemmer, Kristin Lucas, Carson Lynn, Eva and Franco Mattes, Cassie McQuater, !Mediengruppe Bitnik, Tatsuo Miyajima, Laura Owens, Trevor Paglen, Nam June Paik, John Pomara, Jon Rafman, Jason Salavon, Jacolby Satterwhite, Lillian F. Schwartz, Rick Silva, Elias Sime, Avery Singer, Skawennati, Molly Soda, Frances Stark, Hito Steyerl, Penelope Umbrico, Andy Warhol, Wickerham & Lomax

LINK: I’ll Be Your Mirror: Art and the Digital Screen

EVENT: IN-GAME PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION (DECEMBER 10 2022, BERLIN, GERMANY)

December 10 2022

12:30 - 13:30 Berlin Time

C/O Berlin

Hardenbergstraße 22–24,

10623 Berlin Germany

Curators turned sports commentators Jon Uriarte and Marco De Mutiis will present artistic projects that have been created using in-game photography. The works address questions of photorealism, simulation, photographic practices in and against video games. Uriarte and De Mutiis ultimately ask the help of the audience to choose what they consider to be the most exciting and best work. Visitors play an important part in the process: they can cast their vote and decide who amongst the artists did it better in in-game photography!

This event is part of Capturing the (Game) World: Over the last two decades a new photographical practice evolved in the realm of the digital: In-Game Photography. Open world computer games are increasingly shipped with an implemented photo mode, users post game snapshots to their social media timelines as a matter of course, and artists present their in-game photo works in museums and galleries.

Capturing the (Game) World is a series of events which invites students, scholars, artists, photographers, hobbyists as well as professionals, gamers as well as non-gamers, theorists as well as practitioners to explore the quickly developing new photography practice called in-game photography. The series offers insightful talks - about the practice, aesthetics, and the history of in-game photography - as well as hands-on workshops to explore photography in games and in-game photographical techniques. 

LINK: In-game photography competition

EVENT: SCREEN IMAGES. IN-GAME PHOTOGRAPHY, SCREENSHOT, SCREENCAST (BOOK PRESENTATION, PERFORMANCE, FESTIVAL, DECEMBER 10 2022, BERLIN, GERMANY)

Screen Images. In-Game Photography, Screenshot, Screencast

Edited by Winfried Gerling (Hg.), Sebastian Möring (Hg.), Marco De Mutiis (Hg.)

Release date: December 2022

Publisher: Kadmos Berlin

Pages: 376

ISBN 978-3-86599-535-3

 

This volume examines historical and contemporary image practices and phenomena, including screenshots, screen photography, screencasts and in-game photography. The individual chapters pose questions relating to the status, ontology and aesthetics of such practices and phenomena and also analyse their cultural and artistic significance. Artistic works explore these questions in the form of various image practices. The authors and artists investigate the potential for a new area of research at the intersection of a range of disciplines, such as media studies, media aesthetics, media history, image studies, photography theory, game studies, media art and game art. As one of the first publications to address these phenomena, this book speaks to a varied audience in the realms of media studies, game studies and cultural studies as well as to members of the general public interested in historical and contemporary practices associated with visual and digital media.

The book presentation is scheduled for December 10, 2022 at 11:15 am (Berlin time) at C/O Berlin, Amerika Haus, Hardenbergstraße 22-24, 10623 Berlin

Following the presentation, the In-Game Photography Competition "Who Did It Better in In-Game Photography World Championship 2022" will take place at 12:30 pm.  Jon Uriarte (Photographer’s Gallery London) and Marco De Mutiis (Fotomuseum Winterthur) will present artistic projects that have been created using in-game photography. They will select the best ones together with the visitors by addressing questions of photorealism, simulation and photographic practices in video games:

The book presentation and online performance are part of the first annual program of C/O Digital festival, which takes place at the Amerika Haus, Hardenbergstraße 22-24, 10623 Berlin on Dec 9 and 10, 2022.

In the context of talks, workshops and participatory events, visitors are invited to partake and join in the discussion of the questions raised in 2022. C/O Digital’s annual theme was New Values, focusing on the redefinition of the term ‚value’ beyond the market, and the use of gaming strategies to rehearse worlds grounded on the different understandings of value. Ayoung Kim, Debbie Ding, and Keiken, from the incubator program have challenged the term value through artistic research in exchange with their mentors Geert Lovink, MetaObjects, and The New Design Congress. Their artistic projects will be on view at C/O Berlin.

All events are presented in English. Free admission More about the program online at C/O Digital

LINK: Book page

LINK: Book presentation details

LINK: In-Game Photography Competition "Who Did It Better in In-Game Photography World Championship 2022

LINK: C/O Digital 2022

EVENT: PHOTOMODE: OUT THERE IN GAMES (NOVEMBER 17 - NOVEMBER 20 2022, NEW YORK)

Photomode: Out there in games

curated by Mohamed Megdoul 

November 17 - 20 2022

Ideal Glass Studio

New York

press release

Photomode: Out there in games is an exhibition of photographs taken inside the video gaming worlds created by the Ubisoft studio. It showcases the original work of four young artists – Mélanie Courtinat (FR), Pascal Greco (CH), Will Saunders (US) and Ken Sheely (US) – created as part of a ‘carte blanche’ along with that of 20 player-photographers, selected by a jury of professionals following a contest open to all.

The photomode, available in a number of Ubisoft works, is primarily a tool intended for all players. It’s a way for them to capture the various worlds, to visit them differently, to observe the smallest details and to reveal the nuances. In mounting this exhibition, we wanted to celebrate the creativity of all these players throughout the world and offer them the opportunity to share their vision, their perceptions and to accompany our insights on the challenges related to in-game photography. But as a growing number of professional artists are taking up this tool, we felt it was necessary to bring together propositions from these player-photographers with those of more seasoned artists.

This exhibition showcases the original work of four young artists – Mélanie Courtinat (FR), Pascal Greco (CH), Will Saunders (US) and Ken Sheely (US) – created as part of a ‘carte blanche’ along with that of 20 player-photographers, selected by a jury of professionals following a contest open to all.

What are these virtual worlds, so realistic yet so far beyond our reality? What is our relationship to them and what emotions do they stir in us? These are some of the questions that this exhibition attempts to answer by offering you an intense and prolific plunge into these other worlds.

Curation: Mohamed Megdoul
Partners: Villa Albertine, Msi

Prints, framing and construction: C2 Imaging
Scenography: Victoire Guillaumet et Louis Bonichon
Production: Agence Mnstr

A round table in the presence of the four guest artists will take place on Thursday, November 17 at 5:30 pm.

What in-game photography brings to art creation. An in-depth discussion on in-game photography seen through different artists’ eyes: their work, constraints, and the opportunities they seek in this new artistic medium.

 

LINK: PHOTOMODE