Exhibits

SOUFÏA BENSAÏD, COLLECTIF IN-MÉDIA, COMPAGNIE 2MINIMUM, RICHARD E. FLANAGAN, RAPHAËLLE FRIGON, ÉLISE MASSY, NATHALIE QUAGLIOTTO, MARIE-PIER THÉBERGE, JACQUELINE VAN DE GEER, DOUGLAS WILSON, NILS DENEKEN

J.E.U.X. is a transdisciplinary exploration of the relations between spectator/player and creator. Are these relationships egalitarian or does there exist an implicit or explicit hierarchy, which needs to be reconfigured? J.E.U.X. is an ideal platform for the development of art forms, which present “gaming systems” that are governed by different rules and explore these mechanics and dynamics. Under the impetus of Eastern Bloc and Studio 303, the works presented within J.E.U.X. demonstrate creativity, encourage participation, awaken the senses and are firmly rooted in critical thinking. Above all, J.E.U.X. allows the spectator to explore the notion of the game, to discover new interactive mechanisms and to question our place as spectators.

ce que j’ai aimé (2011)

Soufïa Bensaïd

ce que j’ai aimé is a project of relational art in which Soufia Bensaïd proposes a brief yet dynamic experience to one spectator at a time. Within a structured exchange on the life experiences of each individual, she proposes that the participant leave a trace of a cherished experience in a dedicated space. This work inscribes itself in Bensaïd’s research on the individual’s awareness of their personal influences and of the possibilities of transformation of one’s perspective of oneself, of the Other or of human beings in general.



B-CYCLE (2011)

COLLECTIF IN-MÉDIA (GUILLAUME ARSENAULT, LOUIS GINGRAS, SIMON MELOCHE, FRANCIS DEKEN, MATHIEU CLOUTIER)

B-cycle proposes an immersive voyage through the cellular body. To navigate within the work, one simply has to pedal. The participant’s movement allows them to travel through a tunnel of textures, particles and bodily fluids. The effort exerted is directly proportional to the speed of travel; the participant’s body movement controls their navigational direction. They are therefore able to hit or dodge the various organisms living inside this body, which are identified by specific sounds allowing the participant to differentiate them within the space.



JEUX DE PROMENADES POUR 2 (2010)

COMPAGNIE 2MINIMUM – France (MÉLANIE PERRIER, JULIE LAPORTE)

Jeux de promenade pour deux proposes a walk for two people, ideally strangers, which is choreographed by a pair of corresponding booklets (or “scores”). Each score is composed of a set of specific instructions, creating situational encounters amongst the players and soliciting their senses vis-à-vis their urban environment. Their experience is created as a result of the path they are encouraged to take. This participatory project allows for a sensuous and perceptual experience that engages the self, the other as well as the urban landscape. Each participant is thus the initiator of his or her own walk, alongside their recently met companion.



FRACT (2011)

RICHARD E. FLANAGAN

FRACT is a first person adventure game for Windows and Mac much in the vein of the Myst titles, with an electro twist. Players explore a bizarre new world built around and inspired by electronic music. As players explore the environment, they discover a world of long-forgotten machinery that has fallen to decay. With the player’s help, these structures are repaired and rebuilt by solving sound-inspired puzzles. Players resurrect the environment around them and in turn are given tools to create their own rhythms, arrangements and melodies. FRACT is currently being developed for release in early 2012.



REALITY CHECK (2011)

RAPHAËLLE FRIGON

Reality Check is part Facebook application, part intervention project, which examines whether the reality one experiences is, in truth, a simulation. The apparatus consists of a VOIP telephone, which receives calls at random intervals, based on the public’s interaction with a Facebook advertisement. When the phone is answered, the caller on the receiving end will ask questions on the nature of the participant’s reality, therefore performing a reality check.



CABINET DES CARTES (2011)

ÉLISE MASSY

Cabinet des cartes is a playful and intimate experience in which the spectator is encouraged to question and deconstruct their perception of self and of the Other. Invited to share Massy’s cabinet of cards, the players will discover a revised version of the game Les sept familles. Every hand and every draw will pull the spectator into a visual world where displacement of senses, the unknown and the uncomfortable are interwoven. Created in Spring 2010, this performance-based relational project was first presented at the Théâtre Cartier in the context of the collective show Actes de presence, featuring visual and digital arts students from l’UQAM.



DOUBLE YOUR CHANCES (2009)

NATHALIE QUAGLIOTTO

Double your Chances is composed of two tampered bubble-gum machines. The screws controlling the rotation of the center circle in each machine has been removed, thereby slowing down the rotation and increasing the amount of falling balls per revolution. Instead of the expected one gumball per dollar inserted, the machines give out an unpredictable amount of gumballs.



MPII GOTCHI (2011)

MARIE-PIER THÉBERGE

The work of Marie-Pier Théberge questions the role of the artist and their work. Her practice is based on themes of auto-fiction, irony and the interdisciplinary. These interests have led Théberge to create a fictional hybrid character that combines her identity as an artist and the identity of a super hero, common within popular culture. Presented in collaboration with Ratsdeville, Mpii Gotchi is a smart application, developed for the Android platform, based on the mechanisms of identity construction. The game requires a daily investment on the part of its users to take care of a struggling artist in his/her professional activities so that s/he can evolve as an artist and gain recognition in the art world. Théberge will also present a board game combining aspects of the art milieu and the classic games of Monopoly and Life.



IN TRANSIT (2010)

JACQUELINE VAN DE GEER

In Transit is a game for one to four travellers, in which participants are invited into an intimate space to travel to one of several destination: Paris, Montreal, New York, Buenos Aires, Cincinnati, Rotterdam, Vienna, Prague, Berlin, Oslo, Rome, Neerijnen or Hollywood. Van der Geer weaves the participants’ stories on a personal and intimate level in order to establish a strong connection with her audience. While performing, her goal is to transform the distance between artist and spectator where the meeting point is the resolution of the participant’s journey.



JOHANN SEBASTIAN JOUST (2010)

DOUGLAS WILSON & NILS DENEKEN

Johann Sebastian Joust is a no-graphics, music-based, digitally-enabled folk game for two to seven players, designed for the PlayStation Move controller. Participants are invited to channel the power of J.S. Bach and jostle their opponents’ controllers while protecting their own. The game was developed by Douglas Wilson and Nils Deneken, and features sound design by Nicklas "Nifflas" Nygren.




3 November, 6:30pm

Artists and curators specializing in gamification will discuss how art negotiates its place in the theatrical context of the gallery, by blurring the boundaries between artist and spectator – viewer becomes actor – and by thinking about art in its more festive or playful incarnations.

Panelists: Douglas Wilson, independent game designer and member of Die Gute Fabrik, Denmark; Nathalie Quagliotto, MFA at the University of Waterloo; Bérengère Marin-Dubuard (artist Beewoo).

Moderator: William Lockett, MA in Communications and Art History (McGill University)


4 November, 6:30pm

This panel will introduce the audience to a variety of games that act as platforms for alternative processes of learning. Space, as represented on screen, can model a process of looking and moving, thereby developing a “mechanics” of learning codes and searching for understanding that is unique to a specific simulated environment.

Panelists: Bart Simon, Director of TAG, Concordia and Associate Professor in the department of Sociology and Anthropology at Concordia University; Stephen Ascher, BA in Computation and Design Arts at Concordia University and co-founder of the Mount-Royal Game Society; Richard E. Flanagan, game developer and creator of FRACT; Salvador Garcia-Martinez, PhD student in Educational Psychology at Concordia University.

Moderator: William Lockett, MA in Communications and Art History (McGill University)



5 November, 6:30pm

Children ages 6 to 10 will be invited to share their favourite games with audience members. Perfect opportunity for the children to explore the logic and structure of these games, to which they’ve devoted so much of their playtime!

The discussion will be animated by Marilyn Gabriel. Trained in contemporary dance, she has worked at Studio 303 and Tangente.



SOUFÏA BENSAÏD
Interdisciplinary artist, Soufïa Bensaïd merges performance art, action-based art, visual art and movement in her practice. Born in Tunisia, she currently lives and works in Montreal, where she studied at Studio 303, Circuit-est and several artist-run centres.


IN-MÉDIA COLLECTIVE (GUILLAUME ARSENAULT, LOUIS GINGRAS, SIMON MELOCHE, FRANCIS DEKEN, MATHIEU CLOUTIER)
The iN-Média collective, composed of Guillaume Arseneault, Louis Gingras, Simon Meloche, Francis Dakin and Mathieu Cloutier, promotes the emergence of interactivity within different mediums.


COMPAGNIE 2MINIMUM – France (MÉLANIE PERRIER, JULIE LAPORTE)
Compagnie 2minimum (France) is composed of Mélanie Perrier and Julie Laporte. With a background in visual art, Perrier has developed her work over the past ten years using participatory performance practices. Laporte, a contemporary dancer, was trained in Montpellier, France and in Brussels at P.A.R.T.S.


RICHARD E. FLANAGAN
Phosfiend Systems, an indie game studio based in Montreal, is led by Richard E Flanagan, a designer with over a decade of experience in graphic design, art direction, interface, motion and sound design. He developed a prototype of FRACT from an independent student project, which went on to win the Independent Games Festival Award for Best Student Game in March 2011.


RAPHAËLLE FRIGON
Raphaëlle Frigon is a Montreal-based artist, working at the junction of biology and technology. Her work concurrently explores ideas of dislocated information and identity-building processes. She has performed and exhibited in a wide variety of contexts since 2005, from abandoned buildings to contemporary art festivals.


ÉLISE MASSY
Élise Massy is an interdisciplinary emerging artist exploring the various fields of painting, engraving, drawing, video and animation. In 2006, she received her BA from the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue.


NATHALIE QUAGLIOTTO
Nathalie Quagliotto, born in Montreal, is a Toronto-based installation artist. She received an MFA in Sculpture from the University of Waterloo in 2009 and a BFA in Studio Art from Concordia University in 2007. In the summer of 2008, she apprenticed under conceptual artist Martin Creed in London, England. She has exhibited sculpture in Canada, the United States, and Australia.


MARIE-PIER THÉBERGE
Marie-Pier Théberge compelted her collegial studies in Rivière-du-Loup and obtained her BA in Visual and Media Arts at the Université du Québec à Montréal, where she is currently completing her MFA.


JACQUELINE VAN DE GEER
Jacqueline van de Geer, born in the Netherlands and currently based out of Montreal, has worked in the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, France and the Czech Republic, as a performer and artist. She has an MFA in Studio Arts and Theatre.


DOUGLAS WILSON & NILS DENEKEN – Denmark
Douglas Wilson Wilson is a game design researcher at IT University of Copenhagen. Some of his previous game projects include Dark Room Sex Game and B.U.T.T.O.N. Nils Deneken is an illustrator and game designer. Some of his previous game projects include Rückblende and Where Is My Heart. Together, Wilson and Deneken run Die Gute Fabrik, a small game studio based in Copenhagen, Denmark.