Integrating Games into the Artworld: - PowerPoint Presentation

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Integrating Games into the Artworld:

A Methodology and Case Study Exploring the Work of Jason Rohrer

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Why did I do this research?

It is the next step in understanding the relationship between

Games and Art.

There is MORE to the conversation than just this one piece of research and point of view (or lens if you prefer Jesse Schell’s way of communicating)http://www.jesseschell.com/

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Part 1

Background information

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What is “The Artworld”

“The Artworld” is the provider of an

operational/institutional theory of art

that participants use to distinguish art from non-art. The Artworld institutional network is the ground of possibility for anything to appear as art for us today. (according to the people that

are in

support of it)

There are other ways to look at the Art Community but that is a subject for another day.

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What does the system look like?

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History of the relationship between The Artworld and Games

Or – how have games been collected in the past?

http://www.moma.org/collection/

Option 1: as an artifacthttp://mentalfloss.com/article/62089/11-ancient-board-gameshttp://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?assetId=32583001&objectId=8817&partId=1

UR [3000 BC]

Middle East Department

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Option 2: Collected as Sculpture

Xul

Solar

Pan Game and Marionette I Ching http://www.moma.org/collection/works/110562?locale=enThe Museo

Xul

Solar in Buenos Aires

http://www.atlasobscura.com/places/xul-solar-museum

1945

Painting and Sculpture Department

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A better picture of Pan Chess

(sometimes called Pan Game)

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Another example of a piece collected in the Painting and Sculpture Department

Gabriel Orozco

Horses Running Endlessly

1995

Painting and Sculpture Department

http://www.moma.org/collection/works/81977?locale=en

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Sidebar: Chess and Art

Duchamp

On Chess

Video

Beckett

Endgame (a play in one act)

The woman in this photo is author

Eve

Babitz

and this was taken at the Pasadena Art Museum during the opening for the Duchamp Retrospective in 1964. The photo is linked to the museum webpage about the exhibition. Get the Vanity Fair version

here

.

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Other Artists who made chess games (there are a bunch – here are two)

DEADALIVE

2012

Tim Noble and Sue Webster

http://www.timnobleandsuewebster.com/deadalive_2012.html

Do You Feel Comfortable Losing?

2006

Barbara Kruger

Chess Set Link

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aRVqFfnud-I

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Option 3: Collected as aDrawing and/or Print

George Brecht

Games & Puzzles/Ball Puzzle http://www.moma.org/collection/works/128043?locale=enFluxus Artist

1965

Drawings and Prints Department

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Another example of a piece collected in the Drawings and Prints department

Mieko

Shiomi

Events and Games http://www.moma.org/collection/works/128122?locale=en

1964

Drawings and Prints Department

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Mieko Shiomi

(more of her work)

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Option 3: Collected as Media and Performance Art

Feng

Mengbo

Long March: Restart https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HE22-pFPo0o

What was the Long March?

In 1934, the Communists left their base in southeast China, where they had been more easily attacked by the Nationalists, and wound their way over 6,000 miles to the north on their Long March. The journey took

two years

.

http://artasiapacific.com/Magazine/WebExclusives/LongMarchRestartFengMengbo

2008

Media and Performance Department

http://www.moma.org/collection/works/122872?locale=en

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Option 4: Collected as Design

Allan Alcorn

Pong

1972

Architecture and Design Department

http://www.moma.org/collection/works/169920?locale=en

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And this is where we find Jason Rohrer.

Jason Rohrer

Passage

2007

Architecture and Design Department

http://www.moma.org/collection/works/145533?locale=en

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In the Artworld the divide between Art and Design is clear

Paola

Antonelli

: Why I brought Pac-Man to MoMAJonathan Jones from The Guardian. "Sorry, MoMA, video games are not art.“@ min 04:20 “You know, it's like once again there's this whole problem of

design being often misunderstood for art

, or the idea that is so diffuse that designers want to aspire to, would like to be called, artists. No.

Designers aspire to be really great designers

. Thank you very much. And that's more than enough.”

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Jason Rohrer is clear about his intentions.

He is an Artist and the games he makes are Art

So why is his work in the DESIGN collection?

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Part 2

The Methodology: A path for integration into the Artworld

…using Jason Rohrer’s work as a case study

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There are 3 phases to the methodology.

Phase 1

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Phase 2

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Phase 3

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Case Study: Jason Rohrer

Jason Rohrer has been chosen for this study because he fits certain criteria.

First

, he has self identified as an artist and has written and verbal artifacts on this score to examine. Second, he has produced artworks to compare to his or her artifacts. Third, he is not trained as an artist per se, but instead has an educational and professional background rooted in computer science and game design.

This third point is important because his work has never undergone the rigor of art critique such as is found in art schools. This inexperience, invariably, has created gaps in his work. These gaps allow for discussions that, in turn, add to the dialogue as to how to approach games as art.

Fourth

, his work has crossed the boundaries of the game and art worlds and has written artifacts to examine on that point.

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The Work

Jason Rohrer seems to be obsessed with hypothetical situations. His games constantly ask,

“What if?”

In his game Passage (Rohrer, 2007), the player is asked to make life choices. What if I stay single and search for treasure?

What if I get married?

What if I get married and search for treasure with my wife? In another one of his games,

Idealism

(Rohrer, 2008), he asks,

“What happens when your ideals … stand in the way of one of your goals?” (Rohrer, 2008)

Immortality

(Rohrer, 2008)

is a game in which he posits,

“If you could choose immortality, would you?” (Rohrer, 2008)

Each of his games has a built-in conundrum, and in each of these games one choice does not give a better outcome than another, just a different one, or maybe makes no difference at all.

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Phase 1: Mimetic, Pragmatic, Expressive, and Objective

When examining the work through a

mimetic

lens, I first take into account the appropriation of an 8-bit imagery. Since 8-bit imagery does not strive for a sophisticated depiction of nature, this path of critique is irrelevant and I abandon it.

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Pragmatic

However, since the work does seem to want to please the audience with a nostalgic use of the 8-bit imagery, and it does want to move or instruct the viewer through the use of conundrums, a

pragmatic

critique is appropriate.

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Passage

Immortality

Idealism

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Expressive

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Passage

Immortality

Idealism

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Objective

Rohrer's games expect to delight, move, instruct, and express. Therefore, they do not fit the criteria for an objective lens. The games are more than games because they mention and allude to the outside world and the artist's inner world in all cases.

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Phase 2: Examination of Premise

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Passage

Immortality

Son Of Man

Rene Magritte

1964

Oil on Canvas

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Phase 3: Artworld conventions, Immortality

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Is there documentation? Yes.

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Artistic Identification

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This is where Immortality fails

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Phase 3: Artworld conventions, Passage

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A theory as to why the classification of the piece (

AS DESIGN

) has come to pass may be found in remaining questions in phase three of this critique process.

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The first of the remaining questions: "Is the work aware of the history of similar works?" brings to the forefront the question: what are similar works? What games has the MoMA collected and categorized as art?

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Xul

Solar’s

Pan Chess

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Fluxus Games

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Feng Mengbo’s

Long March: Restart

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Memento Mori

Munch

Picasso

Kentridge

Salcedo

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This is where Passage fails

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Conclusion

This is the rigorous critique process that an artist opens their work up to when they self identify that the work is intended for collection and preservation in an Art Museum.

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How games are a new predicate for Art

Article that is

Free and Open

to the publicGames as New Predicate for Art: What can Arthur Danto’s Theory Reveal about the Role of Games in Art?http://ijah.cgrd.org/images/vol.1no.4/7.pdf

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Game Over

Theresadevine.com

Studio4GamingInnovation.com

theresadevine@gmail.comtcdevine@asu.edu