Space Invaders (Istanbul, Turkey, Sept 14 - 23 2011)
Get ready to dive into a world, where you have previously been the audience. Kurye Video Festival 2011 is opening the doors of the world of video games for you.
Video and Digital Arts Festival Kurye will meet its spectators this year between September 14-23 at the YEM (The Building Information Center) building with its new edition dedicated to video games. Structured around a main exhibition called Space Invaders, the festival will also include screenings, seminars, workshops and live performances and examine the boundaries between real life and the world of video games.
Space Invaders is an international exhibition, which was previously held at FACT Liverpool and Netherlands Institute of Media Arts (NIMK) in Amsterdam. Bringing together numerous world renowned digital artists, the exhibition will be visiting Istanbul with the inclusion of new works as part of Kurye 11. The festival will also be featured in the parallel event programs of the Istanbul Biennial and the ISEA (International Symposium of Electronic Arts).
On the boundaries between the real and the virtual
Video Games have always proved to be crucial reference points for popular culture starting with their initial phase of Space Invaders years. Today thanks to the ever developing computer and game console technologies, they continue to create ever more realistic worlds that capture an ever increasing number of players. The works of the local and international artists that make up the exhibition point to the boundaries between the real world and the world of video games, which are becoming more vague and unpredictable every day. Examining these two overlapping worlds, the exhibition will have us take an interactive, immersive and fun look at some serious questions of today’s world.
The exhibition will showcase works by numerous renowned artists including Anita Fontaine, Aram Bartholl, Brody Condon, Cao Fei, Captain Video, Dave Griffiths, David Kaplan & Eric Zimmerman, Dgmnd, Eddo Stern, Guillaume Raymond, Jasper De Beijer, Jodi, Julian Oliver, Ludic Society, Kelly Goeller, Mark Essen, Robin Arnott, Ubermorgen and bring a considerable number of them to Istanbul for workshops and artist talks to share insight into their works with the support of the Consulate General of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Sector professionals meet their audience
The world of video games does not only comprise game developers and devoted gamers, who spend hours in their homes playing their favorite video games. It also includes a wide array of other specialized professionals like game critics and pro-gamers. Continuing its tradition of contributing to the development of various sectors of digital design and the creation of educational opportunities for the professionals and the students of these sectors, Kurye Festival will bring together the professionals of the video game sector in a seminar series, which will be one of the Special Events of ISEA. The seminar program of September 14 will bring together people, who make a profession of playing games: pro-gamers and video game critics for magazines, radio and TV stations, blogs, etc., who trade on their knowledge of video games. The program of September 15 will feature art-game developers, representatives of companies like Tale of Tales and Amanita that develop more artistic and alternative games. They together will attempt to come up with an answer to the long-standing question of whether their works should be regarded as game or art. The last day of the seminar, September 16 will provide a platform for young academicians working on video games in Turkey to present their works.
Visual Arts and Video Games
Video games are becoming more intertwined with the visual arts every day. There are numerous movies that are based on or that make references to video games. For this reason, this year’s screening program will focus on videos and short films that refer to or that are inspired by video games as well as feature length documentaries about them. The screenings, which will take place at the cinema hall of The Empire Project in Siraselviler, will feature films by numerous renowned directors and artists like Danny Ledonne, David Kaplan, Cao Fei and Juan Carlos Pineiro-Escoriaza. Machinimas that bring together video game footage and 3d animation techniques and present independent movie makers working on low budgets with novel creative opportunities will also constitute a major part of the screening program.
One of the hottest and most debated topics of our time, video games will be presented within the scope of such an extensive event for the first time in Turkey. The festival will open its doors at the YEM building on September 14 with a huge party featuring numerous audiovisual projects including the joint project of dgmnd and Galaxy Müzikevi: JOURNEY. "