VGA Plugins: Mo-Cap Mini Course
Aug
3
to Aug 17

VGA Plugins: Mo-Cap Mini Course

  • VGA Project Lab, Mana Contemporary, Unit 843 (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

This Mo-Cap Mini Course is a 3-day in-person workshop introducing artists and makers to DIY motion capture techniques, virtual world-building, and livestreaming technology. In three weekly classes, participants will have the opportunity to use cutting edge mo-cap technology to craft their own creative mixed reality sketches. This workshop will culminate in a video showcase of cohort work at VGA Project Lab and online.

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GOOD BITS: A Comedy Game Jam @ DePaul University
Apr
12
12:00 PM12:00

GOOD BITS: A Comedy Game Jam @ DePaul University

  • The Watts Theatre @ Depaul University (map)
  • Google Calendar ICS

Game Dev and Comedy Arts Students UNITE FORCES to make the weirdest video game possible…in less than 60 hours. For the entire weekend of April 12th-14th, teams will have to write, produce, model, and code an original game, with the exclusive help of some of Chicago’s finest in comedy writing and game development. Those who finish will have the chance to see their creations playtested at The Annoyance Theatre on April 21st!

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Gamer's Universe Convention
Jun
24
11:00 AM11:00

Gamer's Universe Convention

Like playing games? Check out Gamer’s Universe on June 24, a free, all-ages convention at Chicago Public Library that celebrates gaming in every form! 🎮 🎲 👾 🃏 VGA will be in attendance! Swing by our table and be sure to check out our collection of prints and VGA Readers.

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FOOTBALL PRACTICE at Hyde Park Art Center
Nov
21
to Dec 4

FOOTBALL PRACTICE at Hyde Park Art Center

VGA Gallery is excited to announce that Football Practice, an ongoing project by Kristen McWharter with Alm Chung, will be on display on the building facade of Hyde Park Art Center from November 21st through December 4th.

Football Practice is an experiment in visualizing the archetypes, stereotypes, and desires that are enmeshed in the narratives of professional sports. The software runs in real-time with AI athletes driven by the motivations of how workshop participants reimagined players for a speculative sport. This exhibition marks the close of a two-year development process and is an opportunity to witness what new narratives this virtual team embodies as they play.

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VGA Fireside with Gregorios Kythreotis
Mar
2
4:00 PM16:00

VGA Fireside with Gregorios Kythreotis

VGA Gallery invites GREGORIOS KYTHREOTIS to speak at the first VGA FIRESIDE of 2022! Gregorios is half of the two-person game development studio Shedworks, where he’s worked as Creative Director on many cross-disciplinary projects, from websites and apps to exhibitions and music videos. Their most recent endeavor is the desert exploration game Sable, available now on Steam.

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VGA Fireside with Xalavier Nelson Jr.
Dec
1
5:00 PM17:00

VGA Fireside with Xalavier Nelson Jr.

VGA Gallery has invited Xalavier Nelson Jr. (@writnelson) for our last VGA FIRESIDE of 2021! Nelson is a BAFTA-nominated, award-winning narrative director, writer, ex-PC Gamer columnist, IntroComp organizer, and MCV Rising Star. He is best known for his work on games such as Reigns: Beyond, Hypnospace Outlaw, Can Androids Pray, SkateBIRD, and An Airport for Aliens Currently Run by Dogs.

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Football Practice: A Workshop Series with Alm Chung & Kristin McWharter
Nov
21
to Feb 6

Football Practice: A Workshop Series with Alm Chung & Kristin McWharter

VGA Gallery is excited to announce Kristin McWharter and Alm Chung’s workshop series for their project FOOTBALL PRACTICE. A limited number of workshop dates are available, and we encourage you to sign up and help contribute to McWharter and Chung’s data pool of ideas about America’s most popular sport.

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VGA Fireside with Kara Stone
Aug
25
5:00 PM17:00

VGA Fireside with Kara Stone

VGA Gallery welcomes Kara Stone for a special episode of VGA FIRESIDE! Kara is an artist and scholar interested in the affective and gendered experiences of psychosocial disability, debility, and healing as it relates to art production, particularly video games. Kara’s 2018 game the earth is a better person than me was featured in VGA’s exhibition Polymorphism: Queer Encounters of Intimacy in Games.

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VGA Fireside with Melos Han-Tani & Marina Kittaka
Jul
28
6:30 PM18:30

VGA Fireside with Melos Han-Tani & Marina Kittaka

VGA Gallery welcomes game designer duo Melos Han-Tani and Marina Kittaka of Analgesic Productions for a special episode of VGA FIRESIDE! Melos and Marina are the minds behind games such as the ANODYNE series and EVEN THE OCEAN. On their own, Melos is the creator of ALL OUR ASIAS, and Marina coded DIY blogging platform Zonelets.net.

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Personal Action, Public Display: A Balcony of Video Game Art at Artists Run Chicago 2.0
Oct
27
to Dec 31

Personal Action, Public Display: A Balcony of Video Game Art at Artists Run Chicago 2.0

As a part of Artists Run Chicago 2.0 at Hyde Park Art Center, VGA Gallery presents Personal Action, Public Display: A Balcony of Video Game Art. For this exhibition, VGA will program the entire projection façade of the HPAC that viewers can see from either inside or outside of the building depending on the time of day. The projections offer a mix of machinima (or animation made with video game engines) and two interactive pieces that visitors can play through their own mobile device. As a group of artworks they offer an introduction to video game art as a discipline leveraging private, personal devices into collective acts of digital expression.

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Sep
5
to Sep 9

Chicago New Media at Ars Electronica

The exhibition Chicago New Media 1973–1992 was first held at University of Illinois at Chicago’s Gallery 400 in fall of 2018 and it illuminated the largely untold story of Chicago's role in the history of new media. The project will now travel as a touring exhibition to the 2019 Ars Electronica Festival in Linz, Austria. Celebrating its 40th anniversary, the Ars Electronica Festival is a gathering of artists, scientists and technologists, that attracts tens of thousands of visitors every year since 1979.

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May
10
to Sep 8

PLAY.GROUND II: Video Game Art from Hong Kong

With its distinctive urban landscape and rich cultural legacies, Hong Kong has always been a great source of creative inspiration for video games. Hong Kong is one of the most frequently depicted locations in video games, alongside New York City and Tokyo. As both a physical place and a cultural icon, Hong Kong unquestionably occupies a unique position in the video game imaginary.

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Jan
18
to Apr 28

Polymorphism: Queer Encounters of Intimacy in Games

This exhibition explores the burgeoning field of interactive queer art, which gamifies the mechanics of intimate relationships and reinterprets traditional game concepts as a means to experience affection, desire, and love. While queer desire has been marginalized and pathologized in the mainstream, within LGBTQIA+ culture, a more inclusive acceptance of kink and diverse relationship structures is being articulated.

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Nov
1
to Dec 15

Chicago New Media 1973–1992

Chicago New Media 1973–1992 seeks to illuminate the largely untold story of Chicago's role in the history of new media. Consisting of an exhibition, public program, and scholarly catalog, the project yields a new art historical understanding of the artists and organizations that contributed to digital art and technology in the latter half of the twentieth century.

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