Panel Statement
Panel: Playing the non-playful: On the critical potential of play at the overlap of videogames and electronic art
Do we reveal previously hidden or ignored values by discovering the unplayable from playful experiences? Consider that uncomfortable moment in life when people discover a playful experience ceases to be worth playing. Just as an arm is broken on the playground, or a relationship can no longer be mended, there are explicit moments when art transgresses some unforeseen territory leaving us with a fear of its potential. There are games that cross into the taboo and art gestures that are too eager in their playfulness. They leave us unwilling or even unable to play and in doing so, offer us an unforeseen opportunity for critical reflection. Such work is sometimes political other times naïve in its pursuit, uncomfortably stumbling on that which may have been forgotten.
- Lindsay Grace is a professor, game designer, programmer, artist and writer. Lindsay is the Armstrong Professor of Fine Arts within Miami University’s Armstrong Institute for Interactive Media Studies and the School of Fine Arts. His research areas include game design, human-computer interaction, critical gameplay, and web design. He also writes about design and education. Lindsay has served industry as an independent consultant, web designer, software developer, entrepreneur, business analyst and writer. Lindsay’s creative practice is focused on ?uses of interactive media to explore cultural standards. Extending the foundations of human computer interaction, play design and design anthropology, the work explores the ignored. This work is computer game, ?gallery art, animation, sculpture or some interdisciplinary amalgamation. Lindsay’s work primarily pursues educational experiences and editorial critique of the social relationship between computers, humans and each other. Lindsay has taught games, interaction design, and writing at the college level for more than 7 years. He is an alumnus the Electronic Visualization Lab at the University of Illinois and holds two degrees from Northwestern University. Lindsay’s new media work has been exhibited internationally in a variety of venues.
Full text (PDF) p. 1015-1020