More Videogame Art, This Time in Vegas and Burlington

More gaming art exhibits, two more cities.

The first is in Las Vegas and the art and games are make-believe, but no less interesting.

The Winchester Cultural Center Gallery is showing off "Flick of the Wrist," a display by Michael Baker, that combines make-believe video game box art with simple black art on the walls behind the podiums display the box covers. There are seven make-believe games in all ranging from "Smart Storm" to "Wings of Deceit: The World's first Pigeon Simulator."

The Las Vegas Weekly did a critique of the exhibit and offers quite a bit more information than the Gallery's web site:

“Smart Storm” allows for doing battle ... with weather patterns, engaging a subtext of destruction that almost fits more seamlessly with conventional trends. More overtly geared toward developing creative skills and decision-making are titles like “Track Tracer: Draw & Drive,” in which the player must build a racetrack while the race is happening. “Pro Yolk” and “Concentra” promise to be experiments in Zen-like focus, completely defying the norm.

The exhibit is on display through Feb. 5. A "Flick of the Wrist II" has been promised by the artist.

The second is in Burlington, Vermont, at the Firehouse Gallery, where the exhibit asks if videogames can be art. The display is entitled "Game (Life)" Video Games in Contemporary Art" and opens tomorrow.

Chris Thompson, curator of the exhibit, has made an argument that games are art, according to an article in the Burlington Free Press:

Jakub Dvorsky (designer of the game “Machinarium”) creates computer images that resemble beautiful paintings, Thompson said, while Jason Rohrer (“Passage” and “Gravitation”) and Jenova Chen (“Flow” and “Flower”) strive for poetry and “sublime emotional experiences.” Others in the exhibition go for the more controversial, social-commentary side of art, according to Thompson, such as the “over-the-top” violence favored by Mark Essen (“The Thrill of Combat”).

Several lectures, set up through Burlington City Arts and the game design program at Champlain College, have been set up to accompany the exhibit, which runs through Feb. 13. Among the guest lecturers will be:

• Jason Rohrer, designer of Passage and Gravitation, on Jan. 15-16
• Heather Kelly, designer of Sugar, on Jan. 22-23
• Jonathan Blow, designer of Braid, on Jan. 29-30
• Randy Smith, designer of Spider, Secret of Bryce Manor, on Feb. 5-6.
• Paolo Pedercini, designer of Faith Fighter and The McDonald's Videogame, On Feb. 13.

The exhibit will be designed like a pixel-based computer game with "violently green" cubes suspended from the walls and ceilings. Thompson said the effect will be to teleport visitors into a "computer game come to life."