[spectre] Merz Akademie Lecture Series: Playing with the (Im)possible - Computing Games

[Diana McCarty]

Merz Akademie Lecture Series
Winter Semester 2022
on/offline events
Stuttgart

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Playing with the (Im)possible - Computing Games

Just fifty short years ago, a ball was paddled back and forth across a
screen. It wasn't the moon landing, but this simple action was the
basis of one of the first computer games. Pong was core in shaping
what has become a multi-billion profit generating global industry.
Since then, computer games have become that ubiquitous media that is
everywhere in one form or another. Unifying, dividing, compelling,
even addictive for some people, they are part and parcel of
contemporary culture. Candycrush, Grand Theft Auto, Minecraft - just a
few of the most popular games that are played by people everywhere on
different digital devices. This omnipresent cultural phenomena isn't
all high tech  and cash flow, as artists and activists are also in the
mix. In Playing with the (Im)possible - Computing Games, artists,
activists, developers and game enthusiasts will propose a spectrum of
seeing, playing and making games.

https://www.merz-akademie.de/en/veranstaltungsreihen/playing-with-the-impossible-computing-games/
  (check here for links to online events).

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Wednesday 2 November  19:30  AULA

Und es machte Pong.
Vom Entstehen der Videospieleindustrie auf der Schnittstelle zwischen IT
und TV.

Andreas Lange (DE): On Pong, the first computer game that just turned
50, game history and the work shown in the Pong-Mythos exhibition.
Lange is the founder Computer Games Museum Berlin and curator of
Pong-Mythos.

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Wednesday 9 November (online)
Decolonizing the imaginary through the tactical use of Machinima
Isabelle Arvers (FR): on how computer games can work to promote
different kinds of knowledge. Arvers is as PHD Candidate, LARSyS,
Interactive Technologies Institute (ITI), FBAUL, is a French artist
and curator whose research focuses on the interaction between art and
video games.

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Wednesday 16 November (online)

Another World is Possible
Fran Ilich (MX/USA): on alternate reality gaming as a support network
and playing for change. Ilich is a writer and media artist and the
game designer and sys-op for Variable Network State.

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Wednesday 23 November AULA

[ENTER] to stART
Joan Heemskerk (NL): On artistic game modification and quantum
computing. Heemskerk is contemporary artist who made WWWorks in:
photography, video, software, games, websites, nft’s, performances and
installations, and one half of jodi.org (with Dirk Paesmans).

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Wednesday 7 December AULA

Arthouse Games you better play (or create)!
Thorsten "Storno" Wiedermann (DE): On arthouse games and the
(sub)cultures of games development. Storno is the founder/director of
the AMAZE Festival on the art and culture of games and playful media.


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Curated by: Diana McCarty
Presented by: Crossmedia Publishing and Film & Video
Merz Akademie • Hochschule für Gestaltung, Kunst und Medien
Teckstraße 58, 70190 Stuttgart