In just a couple of short weeks, the CVGA will be involved in an Art & Gaming Symposium, which will bring together academics, game makers, and game players to discuss the role of art in gaming. How is art reflected in games? How does one create art through games? How do we view games as art? These questions will be explored through speakers, panels and discussion in a one-day symposium on Saturday, April 7, 2018, on the campus of the University of Michigan & the Ann Arbor District Library. There is no charge for attendance but registration is required; go to http://bit.ly/um-art-gaming-reg to register.
Date & Time
April 7, 2018 - 9:30am to 4:00pm
Hatcher Gallery, 100
About the Keynote Speaker
Brian Schrank is an Associate Professor and chair of Game Design at DePaul University in Chicago. Schrank founded and directs the Virtual and Augmented Design (VAD) Lab, developing games enjoyed and exhibited internationally. VAD Lab makes AR and VR accessible to new players by focusing on each platform's unique affordances, such as novel gestural inputs for VR, advances in Apple's ARKit tracking on iPhones, and so on, developing fun, appealing experiences that foreground those strengths with minimal interfaces. His award-winning VR game "Dumpy: Going Elephants" allows anyone to don a helmet to swing their silly elephant trunk and rampage through a cartoon world. His MIT Press book "Avant-garde Videogames: Playing with Technoculture" situates games within the context of art history and the avant-garde. Schrank advances the experiential limits of games through avant-garde work such as his harrowing, transmedia museum installation piece about sex slavery “A Moment Free from Darkness” played on four different platforms in sequence: 1) a mobile Android device, 2) Desktop Computer 3) VR headset and 4) Apple Watch, to diminish and then ultimately increase the player's critical distance. www.BrianSchrank.com / twitter: @brianschrank / instagram: @inflatable_reality
The Art and Gaming Symposium 2018 is sponsored by the University of Michigan Library, the University of Michigan Institute for the Humanities, and the Ann Arbor District Library.
The CVGA will be hosting a game gallery during the lunch portion of the event. Check out the official event page for the full schedule and other related information.