Play Up! Was a show I curated at Northen Illinois University. It showcased the works of Paul Johnson, Eddo Stern, Ben Chang and The Guardian of the Tradition.
Images are of the artists and designers interacting with Time Arts students, the installation and the opening.
“Playing, interacting and gaming are important aspects for our development as human beings: when we play we learn. As we interact we enhance our conceptual lexicon and through communication we progress. Games and interactive media have increasingly added depth to our understanding of ourselves and our societies. The conjecture is that the process of playing leads to a deeper, more rewarding experience. Bringing disparate artworks together, the exhibition “Play Up!” will connect and explore Art created within the ludological conceptual framework. Artists Eddo Stern, Ben Chang, Paul Johnson and The Guardians of The Tradition all engage with technology, gaming, social networking and interaction to explore and critique the cultural, sociological and conceptual landscape. In the 21st century the networked self, the video game and the computer application are as much a part of our culture as broadcast media was over the past fifty years.
With these new, increasingly locative technologies, agency is given to the player or audience member. The consumer is no longer passive, instead we get to be the creator or an audience/creator hybrid and we are at last unshackled from the stagnant broadcast systems of the past. “Play Up!” will examine the creative and immersive experience exploring how our technologies enhance and challenge our world and society. “Play Up!” speculates that to engage with our societies, we must learn how to play with them.”
The Guardians of The Tradition exhibited their new project: “Sidequest: Text Adventure and Art Games Walkthrough Gallery Show” at the “Play Up!” exhibition February 16th – March 29th 2009 at the Jack Olson Gallery, Northern Illinois University School of Art
In Sidequest, The Guardians of the Tradition create a classic cyberpsychedelic Text Adventure in which you (William Crowther) crawl through a generative, cut-up and recombined twisty little maze of passages through timespace that criss-crosses networks such as Mammoth Cave, ARPANET, SAIL and The Hollow Earth.
Sidequest also features Art Games Walkthroughs written by The Guardians of the Tradition. These Art Games Walkthroughs unlock solutions for various Art Games.”