This time last year we held the first Game Arts International Assembly in Buenos Aires, and it was a pretty wonderful experience. Over twenty game arts curators, festival directors and community organizers travelled from a dozen different countries for a thinktank addressing our common challenges. Some of us explored Patagonia after, where the discussions continued.
The next GAIA will be online, and because we can’t replicate the in-person experience we’re looking at the particular affordances of this format.
Time-stretched: Rather than the concentrated format our in-person event required, we are going to be doing one session every two weeks for four months beginning in March 2021. This will allow us to accomodate more time zones, be more adaptive with our programming and approach as well as allow the ideas to sink in.
More inclusive: One of the key takeaways from the first GAIA was that everybody wanted more representatives from underrepresented countries.
Meeting online means that we can involve people without the challenges of visa applications and prohibitive travel costs.
Open programming: Due to physical limitations, we had to have a strict cap on the number of participants. This year we invite everyone who’s engaged in game arts organizing and curating to reach out.
We are inviting people to submit ideas for sessions between now and January 24th to fill the eight slots we have. Here are a few we’re working on to give you a sense of the range of topics and formats.
BOSS FIGHT (Workshop)
How do we combat the ubiquity of the English language in our arts practice? How do we support curators working with and in other languages?
ART OF THE INTERFACE (Microtalks and Discussion)
Curators working with mainstream art institutions give post-mortems on the things they learned smuggling games into high art spaces.
THE NEW SPACEMAKERS (Field Trip)
Of particular interest to organizers looking to adapt their community building to online spaces. Let’s go on a trip around the internet! We will visit online spaces and get tours from their creators.
For further inspiration check out our programming from last year.
Submissions are made via the registration form below. Selected sessions will receive an honorarium.
This year GAIA is being produced by Luján Oulton (Game on! El arte en juego), Jim Munroe and Marie Claire LeBlanc Flanagan (Game Arts International Network). We would like to acknowledge funding support from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.