EVENT: The Art of Games (Aosta, Italy, May 22 2009)

I am currently in Aosta, Italy for the opening of The Art of Games, Italy's first main exhibition entirely dedicated to the world of game art. It will remain open until November 2009.

The exhibition was organized and curated by the indefatigable team of MUSEA + Fabbrica Arte and by the mighty Matthias Hogvall. The venue is the Saint-Beinin Center in Aosta.

In short, the event was a blast.

I had the chance of finally meeting in person some of the most talented artists on the scene, including Paul Sullivan, Jason Felix, Jason Chan, Nick Oroc, Thierry "BARONTiERi" Doizon, John Wallin Liberto, Daniel Dociu, Jim Murray, Stephan Martiniere, Andrzej Tutaj, Kekai Kotaki, Craig Mullins, and Alessandro Taini aka Talexi.

Around 100 works of [fifty*] thirteen different authors were selected for this exhibition, with full multimedia support and areas dedicated to in-depth analyses and original sketches. Visitors can also play a selected number of videogames on four different game units. In the section called “Amazing Inspiration”, visitors can compare-and-contrast photos of the most important cultural sites of the Aosta Valley and the works of videogame artists. The pictures were taken by Stefano Venturini.

I gave a short presentation at the Friday's press conference. You can download it in Flash Format here:

=> Download The Art of Games

And here's a selection of pictures. {updated on May 28 2009}

The fully illustrated catalog includes all the essays from the curators and contributors. Stanford University's How They Got Game Game project was represented by Henry Lowood (who wrote a chapter titled "The Player is the Artist") and yours truly ("Playful Artwork. Illustrating Gameplay").

Here's an excerpt:

"The issue that I would like to address in this essay is deceptively simple: where does the game artist fit in the art world? Due to the hybrid nature of digital games – which in most cases feature 3D models displayed on 2D screens, it can be argued that the game artist works simultaneously in the field of the visual arts (which comprises drawing, painting, photography, printmaking, and film) and in the plastic arts (e.g. sculpture and architecture), synthesizing skills and abilities that have traditionally been considered contiguous but distinct. Meanwhile, both the visual and the plastic arts have been subsumed by the digitals arts.

   Understanding the status of game artists in the art world is a more complicated matter. Due to the blatant commercial nature of this medium, for a long time game artists have suffered from a curious form of ostracism by the so-called intelligentsia. In the best case scenario, they have been considered talented artisans, but completely disconnected from the world of the Fine Arts. The low standing of game artists in the art worlds is directly associated with the bad reputation of digital games as a form of creative expression. In other words: since games have been dismissed as an inferior art form, game artists have been relegated to the margins of Art and confined to the ephemera of the vernacular. If games are indeed an expression of popular taste –a mere commodity for the masses – their creators must, therefore, be excluded from the pantheon of the Fine Arts.

   This partially explains why there have been relatively few exhibitions dedicated to game art in the last decade, especially if compared to its more illustrious next of kin, Game Art⁶. One major exception is ‘Into The Pixel”. Launched in 2004, this annual event is somehow unsurprisingly curated by interactive industry veterans and experts from the game establishment and not by art critics or other figures officially recognized as the gatekeepers of the high art world: “Into The Pixel offers an opportunity for published video and computer game artists to be reviewed and recognized by the public and by their peers in both the fine art and video game worlds.”⁷ Additionally, “Into the Pixel” is held in concomitance with the Electronic Entertainment Expo, the most important trade show devoted to games, as if the artistic nature of gaming were simply an appendix of its predominant commercial nature.

   Nonetheless, “Into the Pixel” has offered a unique opportunity for computer and video game artists to receive critical review of their creative work by peers and to facilitate a conversation between the traditional and digital art worlds. Commenting on the growing relevance of game art, Kevin Salatino, the lead juror for the 2007 edition of “Into The Pixel” exhibition, wrote: “There is simply too much talent in the video game world to dismiss so cavalierly the seriousness of the work its many gifted artists produce... In fact, the constant cross-pollination between the entertainment world and the art world cannot be ignored. Understanding and explaining where one stops and the other begins is where the real difficulty lies, though why, ultimately, does it matter?”⁸.

   “Into the Pixel” has played a pioneering role in institutionalizing game art. In the last few years, the artworks that were originally showcased in this event have been subsequently shown around the world, including the Design Center in Stuttgart, the European Festival of Art in Nottingham, the Bradford Animation Festival, the San Jose Technology Museum, the Toronto International Film Festival, and South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas. Game art – and its critical examination – is expanding. Slowly, but surely.

   Unlike “Into The Pixel”, “The Art of Games” is not associated with a trade show and it has been organized in Italy, a nation whose impact in the domain of digital gaming has so far been minimal, if not irrelevant, especially if compared to the contribution made by other European countries. The importance of this event cannot be underestimated. “The Art of Games” offers an opportunity for video and computer game artists to showcase their work and receive critical feedback from both digital and Fine Art connoisseurs. The organizers are paying homage to a generation of artists that, so far, have received little critical attention aside from a limited number of publications⁹. A few examples come to mind: Dave Morris and Leo Hartas’ Game Art: The Graphic Art of Computer Games (2003) and its follow-ups The Art of Game Worlds’ (2004) and The Art of Game Characters (2005), Nic Kelman’s Video Games as Art (2007) and Josh Jenisch’s The Art of the Video Game (2008), not to mention illustrated monographs on single games or series, from Halo to World of Warcraft, from Mass Effect to Darkwatch, or even individual companies (for instance, Stephan Martiniere’s Art of Midway: Before Pixels and Polygons, 2007). These publications constitute an alternative vehicle for distributing the artwork showcased in the games themselves. They are both a system of distribution and a ‘reputation solidifier’, since they are instrumental in cementing the recognition and fame of a selected number of artists. It is important to remember, however, that few of these volumes have circulated outside of the gaming community. Moreover, they have often been considered mere appendixes to the games themselves, akin to strategy guides, and not stand alone works. Very few game artists are known to the mainstream. They have yet to reach the notoriety of graphic designers or graffiti artists, let alone comic book artists or illustrators. The situation is bound to change as digital gaming becomes more and more pervasive in society and accepted in the elitist circles of Art." (Matteo Bittanti, "Playful Artwork. Illustrating Gameplay", 2009)