In summer 2012 I co-curated Joue le jeu / Play along with Lynn Hughes and Cindy Poremba: a 5000 m2 exhibition of innovative games featuring experimental spatial and sculptural gameplay at La Gaite Lyrique in Paris, France.
Here are a few of the projects in this ground-breaking show of new commissioned games and curated content.
A series of interviews on the ethics of game design, created in a three-day sprint with Thorsten Wiedemann (A.MAZE). Filmed and edited by Emily Völker.
Working on a meaningful game that is trying to invoke real-world behavior change is both an inspiring and somewhat terrifying prospect. It’s not something we as game designers can treat blithely, without deep examination.
Featuring:
Pollie Barden (game designer)
Jamin Brophy-Warren (game journalist)
Heath Bunting (artist)
Martin Ciesielski (consultant)
Daphne Dragona (curator)
Michael Liebe (game researcher)
Mirae Rosner (artist)
Gabriel Shalom (artist)
Paul Vanouse (artist)
In 2011 I curated OPEN Signs, an exhibition of media art in the architecturally unique McLuhan Salon of the Canadian Embassy in Berlin, in conjunction with Transmediale 2011. The show featured works in multiple mixed formats which were created with an open process and/or outcome, and showcased artists from Canada and elsewhere around the globe.
As a founding member of the four-person game experimentation collective Kokoromi, I curated and organized four annual events in our GAMMA series of experimental game exhibitions. Each of the four events was announced a few months in advance, with an thematic design challenge for game creators around the world. As a group, Kokoromi selected between six and nine of the submitted games to feature as the playable projected visuals at a nightclub debut event, each selection chosen for the originality and quality of its approach. In addition to the specific design challenge, Gamma games must also shine in a public, event-based presentation, for instance they must have intuitive controls, short length of gameplay, no tutorial, and playability while…inebriated. The four Gamma themes were:
Gamma01: Audio Feed – Games used incoming audio from the DJ to create gameplay activity (2006)
GAMMA 256 – Small and oddly-shaped games, maximum 256 pixels on any side (2007)
GAMMA 3D – Games that use red/cyan stereoscopic vision as a gameplay element (2008)
Gamma 4: One-Button – Games that use only one control button as their entire gameplay input (2010)
In addition to curating the games, I programmed the musical acts for the event. Notable bands and DJs who have played GAMMA events include: