Review of Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art, Reviewed September 2015 by Joan Jocson-Singh, Order Unit Librarian, Butler Library, Columbia University Libraries, jmj2176@columbia.edu

Joan Jocson-Singh

Humanities Commons

ARLIS/NA Reviews ISSN 2374-4723 | arlisna.org/arlisna-reviews The latest in art publishing, reviewed by art information professionals and published on a bimonthly basis.   This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA. Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art by John Sharp. MIT Press, April 2015. 146 p. ill. ISBN 9780262029070 (cl.), $19.95.  Reviewed September 2015 Joan Jocson-Singh, Order Unit Librarian, Butler Library, Columbia University Libraries, jmj2176@columbia.edu  Part of MIT's Playful Thinking series, Works of Game, by John Sharp, offers an insightful and thoughtful look at the visual art within video games. Sharp's background as associate professor of Games and Learning at Parsons-The New School for Design informs this work with a visionary look at how game-based art creates an aesthetic.  Referencing influential game design case studies, Sharp identifies three creator groups whose work moves from conceptual ideas to virtual realizations within game creation; they are game art/artists, artgames, and artists' games.  The first group, game artists, appropriate subjects, storylines, and objects from video games to create their own art. Sharp references the work of game artist Julian Oliver, who used a video game engine bug from Quake III that distorted images to make colorful abstract visual art, illustrating the idea of using games for purposes other than recreation.  Sharp then explains the emergence of the second group, artgames, as games designed to be a medium for artists working to explore their craft, referencing games like Passage, Castle Doctrine, and Train. More aligned with traditional art-making, they are aimed at imparting both a functional goal for the player as well as an experience which imparts a social, intellectual, or noble insight. Artgames engage both player and creator with a sense of exploration and investigation, as well as reflexivity that other forms of expression—like poetry, music and painting—previously occupied.  Finally, Sharp discusses the emergence of artists' games as the product of a coalescence of engineers, artists, and players, merging the two previous groups' approaches of game art and ARLIS/NA Reviews ISSN 2374-4723 | arlisna.org/arlisna-reviews The latest in art publishing, reviewed by art information professionals and published on a bimonthly basis.   This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ or send a letter to Creative Commons, PO Box 1866, Mountain View, CA 94042, USA. artgame. Sharp argues that this group's contemporary art and game communities produce a new aesthetic in which a game's intersectionality with art, performance, design, purpose, and production are satisfied. For this, Sharp discusses videogames like Bill Viola's The Night Journey and Mary Flanagan's Giant JoyStick, artists' games that address self-exploration and collaboration.  Throughout, the text engages with questions like, "What tools are necessary to make it?" or "What are the techniques and principles that lead to the best works?" Asking such questions brings into focus considerations relevant to each of the three groups, illustrated by anecdotal evidence of innovation and imaginative game aesthetics.  Totaling 146 pages, the book fits alongside its brothers, with each volume addressing a variety of game-related topics that should appeal to an audience from novice to seasoned academic. The back of the book includes chapter notes, as well as a bibliography and works cited section. Overall, the book is a compelling text for both academics and game culture aficionados who are interested in concepts of game design and contemporary art.   

Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art

https://hcommons.org/deposits/download/hc:53430/CONTENT/201509_works-of-game-on-the-aesthetics-of-games-and-art.pdf/

Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Humanities Commons