Exhibitions & Events
Dreaming The Prairie uses a game engine as a platform for storytelling and story-asking. Located in Illinois, Bell Bowl Prairie—an 8000 year old ecosystem—provided critical habitat for a number of rare and endangered species including the federally protected rusty patched bumblebee (Bombus affinis), and a number of rare prairie plants. A recently contested expansion of Chicago Rockford International Airport (‘owners’ of the land) destroyed a large portion of the rare and fragile dry gravel prairie.
Amid hard deadlines for as many as five other college courses, the students featured in this exhibition developed intriguing projects in the feverish context of the late semester crunch. What’s more, these projects stand out in particular for demonstrating genuinely original inspiration from the beginner tutorials they received in creative coding, video game design, and augmented reality. These delightfully weird and unpretentious early works are a testament to experimentation in new media art education.
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.
These incredibly talented and dedicated students will be playtesting their game GET OFF MY CHANNEL live at The Annoyance Theatre on Sunday, April 21st at 5pm. There are guaranteed to be surprises. You won't want to miss it.
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!
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.
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.
VGA Gallery welcomes Alm Chung and Kristin McWharter for a special episode of VGA FIRESIDE! Chung is a researcher and publisher of zines and games, while McWharter is a multi-disciplinary artist whose work explores the entangled relationship between competition and intimacy.
VGA Gallery welcomes Tanya DePass for a new episode of VGA FIRESIDE! Tanya founded I Need Diverse Games, a not-for-profit foundation based in Chicago dedicated to better diversification of all aspects of gaming. She is also a writer, Twitch streamer, and diversity consultant on games such as Far Cry: New Dawn and Wandersong.
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.
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.
VGA Gallery welcomes Chicago-based video game developer Kevin Zuhn as a speaker for VGA Fireside! Zuhn is the Creative Director at Young Horses, where they’ve worked on such hits as Octodad and Bugsnax. They also participate in game jams and makes experimental games in their spare time.
VGA Gallery welcomes Catt Small as a speaker for VGA Fireside! Small is a designer and video game developer who has been coding since she was 10 years old. When she’s not designing UX and speaking publicly about her work in tech, she makes games to help people better understand the world around them.
VGA Gallery welcomes Akash Thakkar as a speaker for VGA Fireside! Thakkar is a composer and sound designer for video games, film, and animation. He has worked on such titles as HYPER LIGHT DRIFTER, CONCRETE GENIE, and BRASS TACTICS, and he works to educate and mentor fellow game designers and composers.
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.