ARCHITECTURE AND MEMORIES IN VIDEO GAMES
April 22 2021
17:00 - 18:00, Online event
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH
Alan Kwan and Allison Yang Jing recently completed the experimental game Forgetter in collaboration with the French art collective DSLCOLLECTION. In the game the player works for a tech company that cleans all the trauma or dark memories in dead artist brains, and then recycles and sells these artistic brains to parents who want their newborns to be super creative but pain-free artists. This project combines the form of walking simulator games with a janitor cleaning mechanic to create a weird yet artistic interactive experience. In this talk, Alan will share about how the game concept was developed, as well as some ideas and design strategies for crafting unique psychological and intimate spaces in video games.
Alan Kwan is an artist, technologist, and researcher. He is primarily interested in exploring new artistic and technical possibilities of real-time 3D technologies and game engines that depart from the traditional video game paradigm and typical tech fantasies of AR/VR. His projects, including VR experiences and experimental video games were presented at international venues such as Ars Electronica Center in Austria, ZKM Centre for Art and Media in Germany, Museum of Contemporary Art Shanghai, etc. and were featured in media including Discovery Channel, Popular Science, and Boston Globe. Previously, Alan was awarded the first prize of the MIT Harold and Arlene Schnitzer Prize, Asian Cultural Council Fellowship, and the Hong Kong Arts Development Council Award for Young Artist (Media Art). One of his video games was acquired by the Hong Kong M+ Museum as part of its permanent collection. Alan holds a Master of Science in Art, Culture, and Technology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He is currently exploring the construction of impossible architecture and psychological spaces in the virtual world. He also co-founded the independent video game label Sometimes Monastery with Allison Yang Jing.
