Videogame Arts Around the World in 2024

We’re back with a fresh edition of GAIN’s annual roundup newsletter, first launched in 2016 to annually spotlight and celebrate game art events from around the globe!

This year, we’re thrilled to share highlights from 22 events across 14 countries, featuring everything from trailblazing pioneers to emerging voices, and from grand festivals to intimate pop-up gatherings. María Luján Oulton returns as editor, reaching out to friends, colleagues, and like-minded communities to collect their favorite snapshots from the game art events and projects of 2024.

If you enjoy this roundup, please share the link and let us know about any events, projects, or people we may have missed—we’d love to include them in future editions.

PLAYTOPIA – South Africa (Capetown)

Their Festival Director Dominique Gawlowski tells us “We could see a major uptick in attendance and interest in the event compared to previous years. We are extremely pleased with how this event has evolved over the years from a small low key indie fest to much higher level of production standards, larger attendance and much more industry support. 

We had over 80 games on exhibit in our main arcade from around the world with a focus on African made games. Our Indie Planet has also grown! We have begun to develop relationships with other similarly minded festivals such as Bitsummit (Japan), Now Play This (UK), A.Maze (Germany) and Freeplay (Australia) and showcase their best in shows for South African audiences. We had two large rooms filled with both international and African made immersive art installations and two days of talks at our Playtopia summit with special guests coming to speak about the craft of making games and the creative process.”

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GAIA 2025 in Barcelona Applications Open

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We are thrilled to announce the open call for the fifth edition of GAIA, taking place in Barcelona in 2025. GAIA (Game Arts International Assembly) is an international symposium and gathering dedicated to exploring the intersections of games, play, and art through critical and creative perspectives. For years, GAIA has provided a unique platform for curators, artists, game designers, scholars, and cultural practitioners from around the world to engage in meaningful conversations, share pioneering projects, and foster a global network within game arts.

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GAIA Online 2024 Recap and Session Videos

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GAIA 2024 Online Edition was a unique and exciting event that emerged in response to the remarkable growth of the GAIA community. While originally occurring in-person every other year, it’s become clear that we need a space to stay connected, share ideas, and engage in the discussions that inspire us. This special two-day event allowed us to come together virtually, with 33 speakers from 19 countries participating across 10 sessions, creating a rich and diverse program.

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GAIA Online Talk or Workshop Open Call

GAIA returns to the internet September 2024!

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The online version is not merely a warm up to the in-person edition (which will take place in September 2025 in Barcelona) but a highly-accessible version of GAIA, for anyone around the globe who might not be able to attend the in-person meetups, and a way to gather larger parts of our growing community.

We are now working on a program to share knowledge between game arts organizers and curators and would love to have your input. If you feel like being an active part of these online sessions this is your opportunity to propose a talk or activity! You can fill in now the Open Call Form. For inspiration check out the programming at our previous online edition.

The deadline for submission is May 6th, 2024.

We welcome established as well as emergent game culture producers, curators, community organizers, art curators and museum professionals, streamers, critics, academics and all professionals who are working, or intend to work, with videogames as cultural objects. 

This year GAIA is being produced by Luján Oulton (Now Play This), Jim Munroe and Marie LeBlanc Flanagan (Game Arts International Network), and Shalev Moran. Visit our newly updated GAIA website for more info.

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Videogame Arts Around the World in 2023

From special guest editor, María Luján Oulton… We are bringing back to life GAIN’s annual roundup newsletter, an inspirational collection of game arts related photos from events around the globe.

For the first time since 2019 we reached out to friends, colleagues and like-minded groups asking to share their favorite pictures from the videogame arts event or project they worked on in 2023. The result is events from 23 cities covering five continents. The game arts community is coming back in a big way!

If you like it, please spread the link (or retweet) and let us know about any events or people that have not been named here so we can include them in future roundups.

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Applications Open for GAIA 2023

The third Game Arts International Assembly will be happening June 5-7th, 2023 in Toronto, Canada. With a participant cap of 20, GAIA is an intimate symposium for game art curators and game community organizers to level up their professional development and connect with their international peers. In addition to on site talks sharing personal experiences, playful workshops, and practical sessions, GAIA will include field trips to different locations in the city. 

From GAIA 2019 in Buenos Aires
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Game Arts Curators Kit & Community Calls

Game Arts Curators Kit is a new seventy page handbook for anyone interested in bringing a curatorial eye to the presentation of videogames. Over 25 writers and editors have generously shared their field-tested experiences of exhibiting games, spanning the practical to the political, the ethical to the esthetic.

Beginning as an idea in a session led by María Luján Oulton and Chad Toprak at GAIA 2019, Chaz Evans and Rene G. Cepeda took up the massive task of coordinating the writing of over 25,000 words on our nascent art practice during GAIA 2021.

It’s currently available in wiki form and invites input from the community, with plans in progress to have it published physically by VGA Gallery. There will be a roundtable on its creation as a part of Society of Literature, Science and Arts 2021 on Oct. 1st.

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