The impending comic book apocolypse
A while back (and I mean a goodly while back…I’ve been blogging since, what, ‘99?) I posted an article about the D&D panic of the 80’s (which I remember all too well from afterschool specials…). But check out this encyclopedia scan about the strange medium known as…comic books!
Oh Shirk
Looks like I got thin-enveloped. Damn!
April 18, 2007
CFS Gameplay: Video Games in Contemporary Art Practice
At once, the word video game is associated with both interactivity and seclusion. Through the agency of the internet, online gaming has become a participatory source of virtual interaction with online communities of gamers. However, video games can also be considered a solitary retreat into a virtual utopia lands in which the empowered user can manipulate, destroy, and engender. Historically, ideas of games and play are inextricably bound up with pleasure, desire, and a retreat into the self via intense absorption. This withdrawl into the self, however, is connected to outside relations, as it is an ultimate yearning for exterior engagement.
The word gameplay refers to the creative, resistant, or artful manipulation of video games by users. It can be said that gameplay relates not only to the strategic, but also emotional framework of play, as it is a unique reflection the individual’s meaningful bond to the game itself. According to Sid Meier, a world-renowned designer, a game is a ’series of interesting choices.’ If art can also be considered a ’series of interesting choices,’ what happens when the realms of art and video game intersect?
Around the Coyote is seeking submissions for our July 2007 group show, Gameplay: Video Games in Contemporary Art Practice. For Gameplay, we are looking for artists who use video games in a myriad of ways: Do you use video games or its software to explore your own identity or place in this world Do you use it politically, as a site of resistance? Do you use it as a tool for interactivity or collaboration with other artists or subjects? Do you see virtual worlds as a site of meaning? Does your video game work result in art objects such as photographs, installations or performances?
If your practice is related to video games, and you would like to be considered for Gameplay: Video Games in Contemporary Art Practice, please apply in accordance with the following application procedures. For questions, please contact jessica =at= aroundthecoyote =dot= org
Deadline and Application procedure:
If would like to be considered for this exhibition, please submit the following to the Around the Coyote Gallery no later than May 5, 2007 at 6pm.
1. Digital documentation of each submitted piece - artists can submit a maximum of six images on CD. All submitted images must be of work that is available for sale and exhibition from July 6 through July 28, 2007.
2. An image list with your name, title of each piece, year it was made, media, dimensions and price (in US currency). Keep in mind that Around the Coyote takes 35% of all sales when submitting your pricing information.
3. Artists Statement
4. Artists Bio/C.V.
5. One paragraph description about each submitted piece and/or a short description that applies to all submitted work (if not covered in your artist statement).
Submission materials will not be returned. Slides are not accepted.
Send Application Materials:
Around the Coyote
1935 West North Ave.
Chicago, IL 60622
Attn: Gameplay
April 17, 2007
New blog: Virtual Cultures
“Ron Meiners & Celia Pearce present Virtual Cultures, a blog and online discussion on the design, management and study of community and culture in online games and virtual worlds. Please join us and our guest authors for a lively and in-depth in “applied cybersociology,” exploring philosophical, sociological and practical issues of social dynamics and emergent behavior in online virtual spaces. Our initial posts talk about our intentions and perspectives regarding the blog, which will focus on the emerging understanding of online social behavior. We also report on the recent IMGDC 2007 Indie MMO conference, which we both attended.
Celia and I share an interest in fostering better understanding and design of online community, and wish to foster discussion between practitioners and those with an academic background. The community dynamics visible in the online space offer insight into established understanding of social interaction, as well as benefitting from from the ongoing academic exploration of these areas. We hope to spark discussion, and that the blog will become an environment for connection between people studying and working in this area.
Please feel free to join the discussion, and we welcome guest contributors, so let us know if you’d like to submit an article.”
I should also mention another project Celia is a part of, the feminist game collective Ludica also has a blog. I recently interviewed 3 of the 4 members of Ludica during the Living Game Worlds symposium and have been working frantically to transcribe the interview– it’s a wonderful conversation, and I can’t wait to share.