Reality Panic

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February 23, 2004

SF Arts

I was down in San Francisco all of last week for some internal IGDA meetings, etc... While in town, I took the opportunity to visit the "<a href="http://www.yerbabuenaarts.org/inside/press/press03/games.html">Bang the Machine: Computer Gaming Art and Artifacts</a>" exhibit at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (right nearby the IGDA offices). It was my first time at a game related exhibit and it was quite interesting. Unlike some museum exhibits that have been more chronological/archival in nature, Bang the Machine was more about taking game culture and refactoring it, making a statement, etc. I would say the the stuff was pretty cool and made you think, but they were kinda out there and, well, really made you think...

One of the more interesting installations was SimGallery. It was two computers running Sims Online where the play space was designed as an art exhibit. You could control your Sim to check out the various works of art, etc. One of the pieces of art was a recreation of the area you were playing the game in (ie, at Yerba Buena), and then you could sit down and have your Sim play games... Wired had a recent story on the sometimes <a href="http://www.wired.com/news/games/0,2101,62287,00.html">"nested" nature of games</a>.

Also, while in town, there was a meeting of the <a href="http://www.igda.org/sanfran/">IGDA's San Francisco chapter</a>. The speaker was Paul Topolos from <a href="http://www.pixar.com/">Pixar</a>, who did a very entertaining and inspirational talk on games, art and film (he's doing a <a href="http://www.cmpevents.com/GDx/a.asp?option=3&V=11&SessID=2233&Mgt=0&RVid=0">similar talk at GDC</a>). This was the chapter's first meeting at the <a href="http://www.metreon.com">Metreon</a>. It was an excellent venue for the joint session with SIGGRAPH, and we packed the room way past capacity (upwards of 250 people). Afterward, people went over to one of the bar/restaurants to socialize.

Here are some pictures I snapped at Bang the Machine and the SF chapter meeting (note, that the "guards" at Yerba Buena were asking me not to take photos, so I had a bit of a tough time...).

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<img src="http://www.igda.org/events/images/sf04_01.jpg" width="300" height="400"><br>Introductory message on what was to be found inside Bang the Machine, Qwan (Gamasutra) reads the fine print...

<img src="http://www.igda.org/events/images/sf04_02.jpg" width="300" height="400"><br>Polygonal John Carmack. He's kinda short...

<img src="http://www.igda.org/events/images/sf04_03.jpg" width="300" height="400"><br>Art fusing Sim-style imagery with historic events. Very interesting.

<img src="http://www.igda.org/events/images/sf04_04.jpg" width="300" height="400"><br>Liz Wakefield (IGDA), with her "Karesh" mask yelling "you infidels" to the Waco TX recreation game...

<img src="http://www.igda.org/events/images/sf04_05.jpg" width="400" height="300"><br>Carpet Invaders. This was projected onto the floor. It was like playing/interacting with a Persian rug.

<img src="http://www.igda.org/events/images/sf04_06.jpg" width="300" height="400"><br>Some notable developers, part of the "Facing Reality" series by <a href="http://www.rgbproject.com/">RGB Project</a>.

<img src="http://www.igda.org/events/images/sf04_07.jpg" width="300" height="400"><br>The auditorium at the Metreon starting to fill up...

<img src="http://www.igda.org/events/images/sf04_08.jpg" width="400" height="300"><br>Paul Topolos recounting his work on various Star Wars projects.

<img src="http://www.igda.org/events/images/sf04_09.jpg" width="400" height="300"><br>Greg LaBrec and Brian Harvey from nVidia enjoying the post-lecture networking. nVidia were the gracious sponsors for the evening.

<img src="http://www.igda.org/events/images/sf04_10.jpg" width="400" height="300"><br>Paul Topolos with some of his old animation buddies...

<img src="http://www.igda.org/events/images/sf04_11.jpg" width="400" height="300"><br>Stefan Schulze, Gaurav Mathur and their collegues from Factor 5 enjoying some post session munchies.
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Posted by della at February 23, 2004 04:04 PM

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Posted by: Mauro Ceolin at February 25, 2004 04:56 AM

Posted by: bg at March 9, 2004 02:46 PM

Posted by: Henry Lowood at March 31, 2004 01:34 AM

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