ICAM 40 / VIS 40: Introduction to Computing in the Arts

artists working with computer games
guest lecture by Brett Stalbaum / lecture notes by Katherine Sweetman / edited by Lev Manovich

note: the terms "video games" and 'computer games" today are often used interchangeably.


Early computer games:

Spacewar! (1962) generally called the first computer game. Developed by Steve "Slug" Russell at MIT (1961-1962). (Note: the link leads to a contemporary emulation of the original game.)

Pong (1972) is also an important game in the history of video games. It was released by Atari (formed by Nolan Bushnell and Ted Dabney) in 1972 and this began the era of the home video games and the home video game systems marketed to the public. Ping was sold at Sears in 1977 with the Atari 2600. Pong simulates the game of table tennis.
(Side note: Besides Atari, Bushnell also founded chuck E. Cheese restaurant chain)

Adventure (1973) is considered the first text-based game in what later became a whole genre - Adventure Games. (Note: the link leads to a contemporary emulation of the original game.)

Artists working with Video Games:

There are a number of ways artists have used video games in their work, and not all video works screened in class were made by people who consider themselves "artists."

Patches:
general notion of patch in programming
In games, a patch is add-on to an existing game engine that alters the original code or state of a computer game.
A patch can range from a simple repair of an error in the original game to elaborate manipulation and customization of graphics, sound, game play, physics, code, architecture or other attributes of the original computer game.
Artists have been using the tactic of creating patches to subvert the meanings of the commercial games. For instance, Josephine Starrs and Leon Cmielewski created a computer game patch called Bio Tek Kitchen where they replaced the weapons in Marathon Infinity game by cooking utensils.

Examples of artistic projects in the area of video games shown in class:

Today artistic modifications of computer game constitute a recognized genre of digital art, and dozens of big international exhibitions showing this work have been put up by major museums around the world.

Anne Marie Schleiner - in 1999 Anne Marie curated one of the earliest exhibitions in this area - "CRACKING THE MAZE:"Game Plug-ins and Patches as Hacker Art" a collection of game patches and plug-ins by artists.

jodi.org - a group made up of Joan Heemskerk and Dirk Paesmans.
For Cracking the Maze exhibition, JODI did a patch called SOD, a modification of the game Castle Wolfenstein. It takes out the original graphics and replaces them with black and white patterns thus creating a kind of abstraction of the game.

c-level - a collaborative group which was based in Los Angeles in 2001-1005.
The group used video gaming in performances - for instance, Tekken Torture Tournament and Cockfight Arena.
Other work screened in class by C-Level: Waco Resurrection
Note: one of the members of the group Brody Condon received MFA from Visual Arts Department at UCSD and currently considered to be one of the most well-known artists working in computer game area. Other members of the group have been teaching in our program.