Counter-Games

Coordinator: Juan Antonio Álvarez Reyes
Guests: McKenzie Wark, Yan Duyvendak, Iñaki Gracenea, Molleindustria and Tobias Bernstrup.
Maximum number of participants: 15

This form of entertainment, which is enormously successful among the young, definitely conveys a conception of the world that needs to be analysed. At the same time, within our visual culture, it offers powerful images that transcend its own sphere to end up having an influence in other visual fields such as cinema, advertising or the plastic arts. The artists who deal with this subject openly display critical attitudes, not only regarding society itself and the political determinants in which they are created, but also with regard to the medium itself.

There could be three central themes to be studied here that are also connected with artistic and social problems: risk, simulation and violence. Risk would be analysed based on the theories of the German thinker, Ulrich Beck and The risk society, who talks about a state of “generalised irresponsibility”. Then we could study the late Jean Baudrillard’s theories and his essay on the triumph of simulacra, which is superimposed on reality, and supplants and replaces it. Finally, Paul Virilio and his analysis of fear, violence and its production in the media, that was analysed in The cyber-world, the politics of the very worst or in Art and fear. Along these conceptual lines we would form a theoretical framework that can clearly be applied to the world of videogames, as the simulation of parallel worlds, in which risk and violence are ever-present, form one of their essential aspects. Finally, this refers both to the need to try out new possibilities, -although failure is ever-present- and to one of the basic characteristics of any game: repetition and entertainment.

Programme


Monday, 8th of September
Morning (4 hours): Theoretical workshop with McKenzie Wark.
Afternoon: lecture open to the public by McKenzie Wark
Biography: McKenzie Wark (Newcastle, Australia, 1961) teaches Media & Cultural Studies at Eugene Lang College and Sociology at the New School for Social Research in New York. He has written numerous essays but he is best known for his last two works: A Hacker Manifesto (2004) and Gamer Theory (2007), both published by Harvard University Press.
www.ludiccrew.org/wark

Tuesday 9th of September
Morning (4 hours): Workshop by Yan Duyvendak
Afternoon (2 hours): Workshop by Yan Duyvendak
20:00: Performance by Yan Duyvendak
Biography: Yan Duyvendak (Holland, 1965) teaches at the École Supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Geneva and is an artist. He has staged one man-shows at the Kunstmuseum in St-Gallen or at Attitudes (Geneva), as well as putting on performances, among other places, at De Appel (Amsterdam), the Georges Pompidou Centre (Paris), the Queen Sofia Museum (Madrid) or the Musée d’Art Contemporain (Lyon).
www.duyvendak.com

Wednesday 10th of September
Morning (4 hours): Workshop with Iñaki Gracenea
Afternoon (2 hours): Workshop with Iñaki Gracenea
Biography: Iñaki Gracenea (Hondarribia, 1972), is an artist who has put on one-man-shows at the Distrito Cua4tro (Madrid), DV (San Sebastián) or Garaje Regium galleries (Madrid). He is the creator of the installation, Rambling Space, a videogame in which an abstract space is explored.
www.distrito4.com

Thursday 11th of September
Morning (4 hours): Workshop with Molleindustria
Afternoon (2 hours): Workshop with Molleindustria
Biography: Molleindustria is a team of Italian artists, designers and programmers whose work aims to encourage debate on the social and political implications of videogames. In this process they collaborate with media activists, Internet artists, enthusiasts, critics and detractors. Up to now they have presented all their work on Flash, which is accessible on the Internet, in order to bypass traditional distribution channels.
www.molleindustria.it

Friday 12th of September
Morning (4 hours): Workshop with Tobias Bernstrup
Biography: Tobias Bernstrup (Gothenburg, Sweden, 1970) is an artist and performer. He has put on one-man shows at Andrehn-Schiptjenko (Stockholm), at the Centre d’Art Contemporain in Geneva, at Artium Da2 (Salamanca), at the Palais de Tokyo and at the Moderna Museet in Stockholm.
www.bernstrup.com


Juan Antonio Álvarez Reyes (Badajoz, 1966). An art critic and exhibition curator, he regularly collaborates with the cultural supplement of the newspaper ABC and the magazine, Artecontexto. In 2008 he has organised the exhibitions Geopolíticas de la animación (Museum of Contemporary Art in Vigo), Try Again (La Casa Encendida, Madrid and Koldo Mitxelena Cultural Centre, San Sebastián), Psicogeografías (Community of Madrid) and mil veras, mil prinzessinen, mil centralias (Dos de Mayo Art Centre, Móstoles).
Workshop registration

Applications to attend the workshops shall be sent by e-mail to Arteleku, before 25th of August 2008. Applicants shall send the attached registration form, CV and a letter setting out the reasons why they want to attend