Playing video games feeds the pleasure of learning and controlling complex systems to achieve specific, predefined goals.
IMAGE GALLERIES
CTRL ALT PLAY: Playful Alternatives to Control
Digital games exemplify the drive for control better than any other popular medium, as they are fueled by the pleasure of learning. Through play, we learn to control complex systems to achieve predefined objectives. They are the first native algorithmic medium and often our initial contact with technologies. They are our first way of interacting with algorithms, learning from them and mastering them—or are these algorithms the ones dominating us within a false fantasy of control?
The exhibition features a journey through 24 works by national and international artists, including four video games and around twenty artistic installations that hack, short-circuit, and reinvent the very idea of control in play. Through the interactive and playable pieces, the visitor can extend their visit to the exhibition over a four-hour duration, in a holistic experience that appeals to the senses of smell, sight, sound, and touch.
The act of playing in virtual environments grants the possibility of being both subject and object of control, victim and victimizer. A directed freedom that culminates in an emergent and unexpected practice.
CREDITS
Curators
Luca Carrubba y Eurídice Cabañes
Artists
Patrick Lemieux, Aida Navarro, Alejandro Cura, Mathias Klenner, Javier Laspiur, Robin Baumgarten, Foone Turing, Sofía Balbontín, Joan Lavandeira, Keiichi Matsuda, Mónica Riḱic, Román Torre, Antonin Fourneau, Galamot, Fictiorama, Luca Carrubba, Eurídice Cabañes, Maria Ibarra, Gianluca Saporito, AAA Collective, Guim Camps – Sindicado Virtual de Mods, Rabia Williams, Nidal Nijm Games, Jose Sanchez, David O’Really, Xavi Manzanares, Draw me a píxel, Arsgames.
Production Coordination: Blanca Perez Ferrer – FZC
Executive Production and Installation: Trazacultura
Installation: Municipal Brigades and Maintenance Officers of Etopia
Production Assistants: Julieta Averbuj and Marga Avendaño
Exhibition Design: Kaori Project, Raquel Clemente Muñoz
Graphic Design: Buenu, Col·lectiva Gràfica
Communication: Laura Montañés – FZC
Technical Coordination: Guillermo Malón – FZC
Education: Pilar Martín – FZC
Content Manager: Elena Giner
Smart City Services
Mediation: Noray Collective
PRODUCTION
Exhibition produced by Etopia Centro de Arte y Tecnología through the Zaragoza City of Knowledge Foundation.