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Recently, Alterd Esthetics in Minneapolis, MN, US, held their level_13: bonus round exhibition of artwork inspired by games and game culture. A bit of a different angle on video game art.

From Alex Paik: "It’s tough to really take an artistic stance when the radical ideas of Dada are employed by companies to sell more burgers (see: Burger King’s 'Wake up to the King' ad series) and when the proud traditions of Abstract Expressionism can be bought in watered-down, mass-produced form at Ikea (I think I even saw Laurie from Trading Spaces make a fake Hans Hoffman to match her room). The idea of a sincere statement seems completely foreign to someone like me who grew up watching cartoons that were filled with irony and shows like Pee Wee’s Playhouse which seemed to revel in their absurdity. Being brought up in this sort of environment made it difficult to me to answer questions like "Is this work ironic or isn’t it?" from older critics. My answer always was: 'It’s both… I guess.'"

Posted by cloo @ 07:10 PM EST [Link]

Somehow I seemed to have missed it, but Gamestudies has released their first new issue in a year. Let's hope we don't have to wait until Oct 07 for the next issue! OK, it's gone now. Or, perhaps I've gone crazy. Ah well, at least there's still Games and Culture...

Posted by cloo @ 10:47 PM EST [Link]

From monochrom, Soviet Unterzoegersdorf / the adventure game. I haven't had a chance to review the game itself yet, but I do like the writeup: "For years monochrom has been occupied with the construction, analysis and reflexion of alternative worlds and models of recording history. monochrom projects are treating this field partly as a discussion with concepts deriving from popular culture, science and philosophy, partly as a direct reference to science fiction and fantasy fan culture. monochrom’s project "Soviet-Unterzögersdorf - The Adventure Game" is the implementation of a "false reminiscence" into the Austrian cultural memory -- a fictitious country taking the shape of a computer game adventure."

Posted by cloo @ 09:19 PM EST [Link]

Today is the first day of a 2 day meeting marking the launch of AbTec, Aboriginal Territories in Cyberspace, a fantastic initiative lead by Jason Lewis & Skawennati Tricia Fragnito (and also involving games folks like Celia Pearce, Bart Simon, & Beth Dillon), aimed at building and exporting workshops that get aboriginal youth to start to see themselves in and through games (and developing some modding skills along the way).

Posted by cloo @ 09:59 PM EST [Link]

The Ludologist has posted a transcript of an interesting games as art discussion with Henry Jenkins, Eric Zimmerman, Jesper Juul and others. Note added Nov 06: Here is a proper intro writeup for the game discussion on Henry Jenkins blog.

Also, word is Telefilm Canada will be launching a competition to create "the next great Canadian video game." As judged by whom I'm not sure...perhaps this is what "input and support in the industry" will be. My first reaction was "Why are they not creating great Canadian videogames...oh yeah, money!" but on second thought, that's unfair. The commercial games sector has been fairly upfront about their goals and mandate-- to make as much money as possible selling entertaining games to young men-- so when companies like Ubisoft and EA support an initiative that might (potentially) lead to something different, they should be given some credit. I believe the official announcement will come at MIGS and competition information will soon be available at www.telefilm.gc.ca/game.

Posted by cloo @ 11:43 PM EST [Link]

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