Game Art

Opening: August 30th, 5-9 pm

From the margin of the toy industry computer games have grown to a major industry, to be a large part of the entertainment business and now the game industry start to have an impact in the general economy. The first generation that grew up with computer games in the 1980's now have their own children and still they are plating themselves.

New forms of games are developed where elements from the reality are incorporated. Examples are virtual worlds such as Entropia Universe and Second Life. They do not involve any competition, instead they mirror the physical life. Other games have different methods and transfer actions from the reality to the game environment and also vice versa. One example is the war game of the American military called American Army which is not just an ordinary game but also a site where the army find new recruits.

The exhibition Game Art will take a closer look on how artists have used computer games, modified, copied and deconstructed them and how they have borrowed their form and aesthetic. The exhibition takes off in the early 1960's to contemporary pieces and includes strategies from performance to digital generated pieces. It discusses the icons, the aesthetic and the economic and social contexts that are created around the games and how the computer games can be used to create narratives. The exhibition also discusses if computer games have influence on our understanding of our selves and the reality around us. What happens when someone play games to such extension that the larger part of his or hers lives more or less is lived within the games? What does the stereotyped description of bodies and the sexes in the games mean to our conception of us and our bodies?

Mejan Labs opened in 2006 in the building of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm Sweden. Mejan Labs functions as an extension of the Royal University College of Fine Arts in Stockholm and aims to establish a site that combines education, research, experiments and exhibitions.

Game Art
Feng Mengbo, Natalie Bookchin, John Paul Bichard, Petra Vargova, Gonzalo Frasca, Linda Erceg, Joseph DeLappe, Göran Sundqvist