Homo Ludens Ludens
Photo: Marcos Morilla
LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial presents HOMO LUDENS LUDENS, an international exhibition and conference examining play as a principal element of today’ s world, and highlighting its necessity for our contemporary societies. Following the exhibitions GAMEWORLD and PLAYWARE, that reflected respectively on the different playful and social sides of gaming creativity and interactive art, HOMO LUDENS LUDENS now sets the setting that embraces these data and looks into the notion of play in a wider spectrum, presenting how it has evolved in our digital times.
Projects of a different character and orientation reflect play’s various expressions and roles: Play is being reformed and reversed; it embodies social and political acts and issues; it becomes a tool for activism; it mingles the virtual and the real; it revitalizes other disciplines; play can be misused and exploited; while stereotypes are challenged, questions are raised and different understandings are offered.
Following the same direction, the international conference HOMO LUDENS LUDENS which is co-organized with the Planetary Collegium aims through its two-day programme to situate the frame context of contemporary play, to highlight its interdisciplinary character and to present the multifaceted reality of the playful society we are living in. To achieve this, the Conference forms a special setting for dialogue and experimentation where it brings together international experts from the field of game theory as well as artists and practitioners who embrace elements and signs of play and playfulness in their work and research activities.
So, what is play today and what about the player? The exhibition and conference can be understood as an examination of play as a vital element in our everyday life and as a speculation on the emergence of a Homo Ludens Ludens – the contemporary player of games.
Curatorial team:
Erich Berger, Chief Curator, LABoral Centro de Arte de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijón
Laura Baigorri, Independet Curator, Barcelona
Daphne Dragona, New Media Arts Curator, Athens
Artists:
John Paul Bichard [art of game] art of war
France Cadet SweetPad
Derivart El burbujómetro
Devart Himalaya's Head
Ge Jin Gold Farmers
Vladan Joler Schengen Information System, Version 1.0.3
Radwan Kasmiya Under Seige
John Klima The Great Game. Epilogue
La Fiambrera Obrera & Mar de Niebla Bordergames
Danny Ledonne Playing Columbine: a True Story of Videogame Controversy
Valeriano López Estrecho Adventure
Ludic Society Objects of Desire
Brian Mackern Living Stereo
Larry Miller Interview with George Maciunas
MIT Lab - Drew Harry, Dietmar Offenhuber, Orkan Telhan Stiff People's League
Molleindustria Faith Fighter
Volker Morawe & Tilman Reiff PainStation
Julian Oliver levelHead
Hannah Perner-Wilson & Mika Satomi Massage Me
Personal Cinema & the Erasers Folded in
Martin Pichlmair & Fares Kayali Bagatelle Concrete
Orna Portugaly, Daphna Talithman, Sharon Younger Jumping Rope
Marcin Ramocki & Justin Strawhand 8 bit. A Documentary About Art and Videogames
Rolando Sánchez Matari 69200
Alex Sanjurjo Obstruir - serie Reiterar
Gordan Savicic Constraint City
Silver & True SellYourRoleX
Axel Stockburger Tokyo Arcade Warriors - Shibuya
Román Torre Life Floor
David Valentine/MediaShed The Duellists
William Wegman Two Dogs and Ball (Dogs Duet)
Spatial design: Nerea Calvillo (C+ Arquitectos)