Videogames and Art: Second Edition

Videogames are firmly enmeshed in modern culture. Acknowledging the increasing cultural impact of this rapidly changing industry on artistic and creative practices, Videogames and Art features in-depth essays that offer an unparalleled overview of the field. Together, the contributions position videogame art as an interdisciplinary mix of digital technologies and the traditional art forms. Of particular interest in this volume are machinima, game console artwork, politically oriented videogame art and the production of digital art. This new and revised edition features an extended critical introduction from the editors and updated interviews with the foremost artists in the field. Rounding out the book is a critique of the commercial videogame industry comprising essays on the current quality and originality of videogames.  

Table of Contents:
Introduction – Grethe Mitchell and Andy Clarke Section I: Overviews From Appropriation to Approximation – Axel Stockburger Meltdown – Rebecca Cannon Videogames as Literary Devices – Jim Andrews High-Performance Play: The Making of Machinima – Henry Lowood “Cracking the Maze”: Curator’s Note – Anne-Marie Schleiner Section II: Artists on Art Two Interviews with Brody Condon – Andy Clarke In Conversation Fall 2003 and Spring 2012: Interviews with Joseph Delappe – Jon Winet Figures in a Landscape: In Conversation with Gibson/Martelli (igloo) – Grethe Mitchell The Idea of Doing Nothing: An Interview with Tobias Bernstrup – Francis Hunger Staying in to Play: The Works of John Paul Bichard – John Paul Bichard An Interview with Eddo Stern – Andy Clarke and Grethe Mitchell The Isometric Museum: The Sim Gallery Online Project (an interview with Curators Katherine Isbister and Rainey Straus) – Jane Pinckard The Evolution of a GBA Artist (2004) – Paul Catanese From Fictional Videogame Stills to Time Travelling with Rosalind Brodsky, 1991–2005 – Suzanne Treister Virtual Retrofit (or What Makes Computer Gaming So Damn Racy?) – M.A. Greenstein Perspective Engines: An Interview with JODI – Francis Hunger How Independent Game Development looked in 2002 (an interview with Julian Oliver and Kipper) – Melanie Swalwell Medieval Unreality: Initiating an Artistic Discourse on Albania’s Blood Feud by Editing a First-Person Shooter Game – Nina Czegledy and Maia Engeli Section III: Games and other Art Forms Should Videogames Be Viewed as Art? – Brett Martin Some Notes on Aesthetics in Japanese Videogames – William Huber The Computer as a Dollhouse (excerpts) – Tobey Crockett Networking Power: Videogame Structure from Concept Art – Laurie Taylor Fan Art as a Function of Agency in Oddworld Fan Culture – Gareth Schott and Andrew Burn Will Computer Games Ever Be a Legitimate Art Form? – Ernest W. Adams Notes on Contributors and Artists