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American Gun Show
This is the most difficult material I have worked with, but in the process I learned a lot. My co-curator Dorothy and I were very intentional about trying to be neutral and consider the object from many different perspectives. We solicited art from a wide range of intentionally diverse artists and came out of it with a new respect for people. We created a welcoming place where there could be a conversation about guns and gun violence. No one we talked to was pro-massacre. Everyone was interested in a solution. The facilitated discussion that we had around the issue was very encouraging.
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Cooperative Gaming CoopThe golden era of the arcades is long gone and the revival of the 90s a distant memory. Its now up to the people to reclaim the space. The arcade was more than a place that devoured our allowances one quarter at a time, it was a place to play in public, to impress your friends, to socialize. The giant, sturdy pieces of brightly painted furniture enticingly covered with a smattering of eye-catching graphics sold us on the games before we played them. We watched the masters develop their skill quarter after quarter. The space was alive with interaction, community and conversation.
The Cooperative Gaming Coop looks both backwards and forwards, into the legacy of gaming on one hand and its possible future one the other. The Golden Age of Video Games provided us with this public social space in which to interact, debate, commune and compete with friends and strangers alike. The arcade cabinet became the interface, the context, and the marketing agent for the games contained within. We lament the loss of the Arcade. We lament the replacement of the game cabinet. The democratization of media has shifted the gaming landscape. Now more than ever, games can be created by anyone given the time and dedication. We anticipate a space that is once more owned by the people where we can swap our old used games (or games we made) play games made by our friends, family, lovers, professors and exchange ideas. This is a space that we own as gamers, that is free and unrepentantly socialist in its structure and ownership. This is old school socialism; everyone owns the coop of coop gaming. This is a place where we Share and Play together. We have invited experts to curate cabinets, to bring together the best and most interesting work from a huge variety of sources. We have invited the students of SJSU and the Game Developers Club to share their games as well. The range of represented work will be enormous, expect to play games by people you have never heard of and people who will affect the future of the industry. We invite people of all ages to visit our “Game Coop”. Trade games, both old and new, bring the games you made to trade, and even those old much loved titles. Engage your neighbors, share stories. |
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Learn to PlayLearn to Play presents a selection of poetic, artistic, and artful games that embody the qualities of human existence, focusing on the experience of playing and learning to play. The characteristics of these games echo human nature, teaching us who and what we are, or can be.
As conduits for bridging or separating cultures, games can be used to bring communities together for improvement of economic and social conditions, or to exploit communities through political maneuvering. The games chosen range from personal growth to those used for socially conscious purposes. Of particular interest are game situations that allow people to enter into a life driven by their choice and conscience. Learn to Play, Learn to Play 2, and Craft & Punishment showed at the Euphrat Museum of Art in Cupertino and the gallery at Evergreen Valley College from October 2010 to February 2011. |
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Look ArtBuilt on MUSH code, look art is a contemporary consideration of the Multi-User Dungeon (MUD), a pervasive late-twentieth century, text-based, online environment that was a precursor to today's Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games.
From its humble beginnings in Second Life Ars Virtua has maintained a research arc that embraced the quality of simulation and the application of simulation to art and art practice, or perhaps cultivating of art and art practice within simulation. This has led us to a variety of activities and exhibitions from online gallery shows to a conference, mixed reality events, interventions and storytelling in MMOs. Our work has always been guided by a deep desire to find, cultivate, or make art within these burgeoning virtual spaces. More specifically we have found ourselves looking for native art within whatever medium or environment we happened to be in. This search often takes place as an exploration, conversation and series of calls and commissions. Our latest exploration is in the space of the Multi-User Dungeon. These text environments grew up around the role-playing games of Dungeons and Dragons(TM) of the mid 70's and early 80's. As such the MUD is a precursor to MMO's including World of Warcraft. From the historical perspective it is easy to see why we were interested in MUDs, but beyond the important historical relevance it is notable that the MUD environment is almost completely open at this point. Wizards, the so called builders within the MUD, are able to create anything they are able to describe. Additionally many of the environments are free or open-source at this time. |
Ars Virtua Website - current focus is research
AVAIR & on Turbulence - Ars Virtua Artist in Residence PDF of Early Exhibits |
Ars VirtuaArs Virtua is an ongoing investigation into the nature of 3D rendered environments. With an ever expanding exhibiton list, artists in residence (both in Second Life and World of Warcraft) an annual conference that addresses issues through the eyes of outside experts and an ongoing research agenda we are able to examine the space both conceptually and as a medium for artistic production.
Our primary center is the gallery and new media center in Second Life but we have expanded to include Guilds on two servers in World of Warcraft. Through artist residencies and conferences we have expanded our reach to become part of the dialogue about these new spaces. |