GC goes Art – art and culture add to the programme
GC (Games Convention)
(24 - 27 August 2006)
Press & Trade Visitor Day: 23 August 2006
In its fifth year, the GC (Games Convention) is turning its attention to art. The exhibitions "pong.mythos", "Machinima" and "Digital Beauties/Character Design" are an addition to the programme this year, together with the presentation from the Burg Giebichenstein Art and Design College, Halle, and a painter who captures a motif from the "unreal" on 12 sq m of hall floor. As in many areas at the GC, visitors can enjoy a hands-on approach here too: workshops are being held on a daily basis in the Machinima and Character Design areas, offering interested "newcomers" an introduction to a new hobby.
Pong myth
In Hall 4, the GC and the Berlin Computer Game Museum present the touring exhibition "pong.mythos". Project director Angela Schierholz: "On an area of 1,000 square metres, we are showing around 30 exhibits on the subject of Pong. The display includes installations, video, software, performance art and fine art."
The exhibition of works by young international and national artists takes in computer history, the entertainment industry, science and art. Research projects using Pong as an experimental field for the development of future user-computer interfaces are presented alongside historic game consoles or items such as a Pong game for the blind.
The simple digital tennis game was developed in the seventies and still enjoys cult status. In a very particular way, it symbolises the rapid rise of the computer games industry. Ralph H. Baer, inventor of the home video game, has agreed to act as patron of the exhibition.
Machinima
In the immediate vicinity of the "mythos.pong" exhibition, the Machinima Gallery offers interesting entertainment in a relaxed atmosphere. Machinima is an artificial term made up of the words "machine", "cinema" and "animation" to describe films created with the help of game engines.
The first machinima came about thanks to the LMPC programme (Little Movie Processing Centre) created by the Leipzig physicist and programmer Uwe Girlich after he had analysed the structure of the game engine quake in 1996. LMPC makes it possible for a user to create or to change film-like scenarios.
Five large screens with headphones, DVD remote controls and comfortable bean bag seating give visitors an opportunity to look at the outstanding machinima productions of recent years in all genres from music videos to action films. Text notices provide background to the individual productions as well as general information on the subject of machinima. /2
Keen gamers as well as interested visitors with no gaming experience can take part in one of the daily machinima workshops and learn how to make these film themselves without difficulty and in good quality. The workshops will be particularly interesting thanks to the fact that they are all jointly run by a machinima producer and a film director.
Almost real: Digital Beauties/Character Design
As good as real: it is hard to believe what some creative minds can do with a computer. The "almost real" special show introduces examples of what is possible and confronts the viewer again and again with the question of "real" or "virtual".
For all those who would like to know how it's done and to try for themselves with first steps in Character Design, a 4-hour workshop will be held every day during the GC. The winner of the "Animago 2006" award in the category "Digital Beauties" lives and works in Leipzig and is at the workshops to explain the many steps leading to an independent "character". All those attending the workshop will go through the steps for themselves so that they understand how a character comes into being from the first "click" on. At the end, there will also be time for individual conversations with the course coordinator.
Contact for the press : Contact for exhibitors/visitors:
Susanne Heusler Angela Schierholz
Press Officer Project Director
Phone: +49 (0) 341 - 678 8184 Phone: +49 (0) 341 - 678 8281
Fax: +49 (0) 341 - 678 8182 Fax: +49 (0) 341 - 678 8282
E-mail: s.heusler@leipziger-messe.de E-mail: a.schierholz@leipziger-messe.de
GC on the Internet:
http://www.gc-germany.com
http://www.gcdc-germany.com
July 2006