“GAMEWORLD EXPANSION PACK: PLAYWARE!” LABORAL 07

Playware inaugurou no dia 21 de Setembro no Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial em Espanha (Gijón, Asturias) e estará disponível ao público até ao dia 21 de Março de 2008. Esta iniciativa tem como objectivo apresentar, reflectir e legitimar a cultura lúdica digital e apresenta-se como uma expansão (Gameworld Expansion Pack: Playware) de uma outra mostra, Gameworld, Games on the Edge of Art, Technology and Culture, que inaugurou no mesmo centro entre Junho de 2006 e Março de 2007. Ambas as exposições foram pensadas em parceria com o Museum Of The Moving Image de Nova Iorque e com o Ars Electrónica de Linz.


O conceito de Gameworld era simples: “The title GameWorld invokes three interrelated but distinct worlds. First is the designed world within a videogame, which includes both its perceptual attributes and the system of rules, behaviors and properties that provide its form. Second is the creative ecology composed of industry and academia that is emerging around videogames. The third world is the realm of contemporary culture, and the extent to which it is colored by videogames and their offshoot, virtual worlds. We hope to show the many points of intersection between videogames, art and culture through the presentation of work from over forty artists and game designers, and, in spite of their status as diversion, reveal games to be an expressive enterprise worthy of attention and study. Whether you play them or not, videogames matter.
For those who think that showcasing videogames within the corridors of a museum is out of the ordinary, it’s not true. Museums have been examining the cultural and technical significance of videogames since the late 1980s, starting with “Hot Circuits: A Video Arcade,” a historical exhibition of video arcade games mounted by the Museum of the Moving Image (New York), my place of employ, in 1989. The exhibition was inspired by the then radical notion that videogames are an increasingly vital part of the entertainment industry, alongside movies, television and music. It also drew attention to the contribution of videogames to computation technologies, in part because they are often the public’s first exposure to edge technologies. Today these notions are well accepted”, (Carl Goodman, Museum Of The Moving Image)

O conceito de Playware é ainda mais simples: ”Since their inception, computers have served as engines of play. Many of the earliest computer games were programmed by researchers and scientists for the stated purpose of technological inquiry. The desire to create an engaging (and yes, fun) experience complimented rather than contradicted their more ambitious aims. In the past decade, the increasingly sophisticated simulation, media processing, and networking capabilities of computers, and the development of new, intuitive interfaces, have spurred the introduction of new types of play. Accompanying these developments is a resurgence of interest in the study and theory of play, and an increased awareness of play’s vital function in culture, learning, and the creative industries.” Continuem a ler mais sobre o conceito da exposição aqui e não deixem de ver o vídeo da inauguração disponível on-line.


















