April 11, 2007
Increasingly, we note discussions of whether video games are an art form.With exhibitions such as Into the Pixel, can there be any doubt?
Submissions are now being taken for the 2007 contest featuring the best of video game artwork. Pieces accepted will be unveiled at the new E3 Media & Business Summit in July. The gaming public can check out Into the Pixel submissions at the E for All Expo in Los Angeles in October.
According to an ITP press release:
Into the Pixel is the only juried art exhibition that brings together the elite from the fine art world and the interactive entertainment industry to explore video game artwork from both a digital and traditional art perspective...
The exhibition is a cultural exploration and celebration of the art of the video game, and will feature 16 extraordinary works, hand-selected by a panel of esteemed jurors from submissions by artists throughout the global video game art community.
The exhibition is presented by the ESA, the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences (AIAS), and the Prints and Drawings Council of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA).
Said lead juror Kevin Salatino, Curator of Prints and Drawings at LACMA:
We have seen startling things happening in the last decade as Japanese anime – perhaps the most overt example of videogame art influencing “fine” art – has infiltrated the world of high art. I predict that as more and more artistic talent is absorbed into the game world, the cross-flow from discipline to discipline will become ever more invasive and imperceptible.
Comments
Some prime examples are God of War, Giants: Citizen Kabuto, SotC and yes, even World of Warcraft. If anything can be said about the WoW visual style, it is consistent and is designed such that even the lowest specced of machines are able to run it.
This is a pretty prestigious event, you will be seeing concept artists and games companies from all over the world flocking to get their art displayed and I look forward to seeing the finalists. :)
I just read this article, and I was trying to decide whether or not that particular peeve should come out in the comments section. Apparently you beat me to it :)
Games are art. Drawings are art. Digital images are art. But they are all different kinds of art. You seem to have mistaken Game Art for Art Games.
Shadow of the Colossus has beautiful images, but it is also a beautiful interactive experience. Rez is a sensory experience like a personal light show installation. Super Columbine Massacre is art as a social statement, by putting the user directly into the situation. Rod Humbles "The Marriage" (http://www.rodvik.com/rodgames/) is expression through interactivity. And Pong is gameplay at it's purest form.
All of these are different examples of games as art, because they are experiences that no other media can give you. And most of them do not have high-res fancy graphics, some of them really didn't have any textures at all. Pretty pictures can hang on the wall, or be passively viewed on a screen, or be drawn right before your eyes. Theatre can be minimally interactive, but will never fully interact with each and every audience member. Music is engaging but passive. Games are the only media that can combine all of these things into a personalized interactive experience.
"Video Game Art" is different than "Games Are Art"
That being said, I think it's a cool exhibition. It's unfortunate that it's a bunch of concept art, which separates it from the interactive experience even further.
Chris Taylor is one of the Jurors.