APRIL 17 2019/17 APRILE 2019

18:00 - 19:00

Room 135/Aula 135 (terzo piano)

Università IULM (IULM 1)

Via Carlo Bo, 1

20143 Milan

PLEASE RSVP - REGISTRAZIONE NECESSARIA

Game Aesthetics: Platform Constraints + Creative Affordances

LANGUAGE: ENGLISH

This lecture by artist-researcher Kieran Nolan is an alternative primer in game aesthetics. Videogames are technologically mediated aesthetic experiences, with the communicative link between player and game shaped by the affordances and constraints of the host platform, the interface type used, and the game environment, in terms of the situated space of the player, as well as the inner space of the game world itself. Exemplars of breakthroughs in game aesthetics spanning game design history will be discussed, from retro through to current generation platforms. Kieran will also present his ongoing series of game based experiments in arcade interface aesthetics. These works explore themes including interface constraints, materiality, and user context, combining to form a self-reflexive, experiential composite overview of the arcade interface. For gamers, makers, hackers, artists and dreamers. 

Game Aesthetics: VINCOLI DI PIATTAFORMA + POSSIBILITÀ CREATIVE

LINGUA: INGLESE

In questo talk, l'artista-ricercatore irlandese Kieran Nolan propone una storia alternativa dell’estetica videoludica. La tesi portante è che i videogiochi sono esperienze audiovisive immersive e tecnologicamente mediate. La relazione tra gioco e giocatore dipende da tre fattori: costi e caratteristiche tecniche della piattaforma; l’interfaccia e l'ambiente ludico, inteso sia come lo spazio situato del giocatore, sia come spazio del mondo videoludico. Nolan illustra come il concetto di estetica videoludica si è evoluto, delineando una traiettoria che parte dalle piattaforme vintage e giunge alla generazione attuale. Nolan presenterà i suoi progetti sperimentali nell’ambito delle modifiche delle interfacce arcade, che tematizzano aspetti quali l’interazione, la materialità e il contesto di fruizione, creando un mosaico complesso, auto-riflessivo ed esperienziale sull’evoluzione dei coin-op. Per gamers, makers, hackers, artisti e sognatori.

Kieran Nolan is an artist-researcher, indie-game designer, and academic. He is a lecturer with the Department of Creative Arts, Media and Music at Dundalk Institute of Technology, where he is Programme Director of the BA in Media Arts and Technologies and the BA (Hons) in Communications and Creative Multimedia, and co-organiser of the Picteilín Creative Media and Games Studies Conference. Kieran is also a PhD candidate in Digital Arts and Humanities with the Graphics Vision and Visualisation group at Trinity College, Dublin. His research explores the aesthetic, material and connective properties of the arcade interface. Kieran’s research work has been published at conferences and exhibitions worldwide, including Vector Game Art and New Media Festival (Toronto), The Science Gallery (Dublin), Eurogamer Expo (London), Future and Reality of Gaming/F.R.O.G. (Vienna), International Symposium of Electronic Arts/ISEA (Belfast, Hong Kong), ZIL Cultural Centre (Moscow), the A MAZE. International Independent Video Games Festival (Berlin), METEOR (Tokyo), MAKE (Cork), Transmediale (Berlin), Art.CHI (Seoul), Game On! El arte en juego (Buenos Aires), and Playing The Game (Milan). Kieran lives and works in Ireland. Click here to learn more.