[-empyre-] Re: empyre Digest, Vol 40, Issue 8

[jonCates]

On Mar 9, 2008, at 10:18 AM, John Haber wrote:
> It's striking that one of the first artists to incorporate gaming  
> into his work, Cory Arcangel, did so in a spirit of significant  
> disruption and a bit of parody.

Cory Arcangel's work is of course an important point of reference but  
he is certainly not "one of the first artists to incorporate gaming  
into his work". as we weave these histories of Art Games in/to Media  
Art Histories it is crucial to keep the context of the last 40 years  
of experimental Media Art in the forefront of memory. a narrative of  
Art World gaming can be + is told that frames DADA, Surrealism,  
Situationism + FLUXUS as important playful predecessors to  
contemporary Digital, New Media Art + Art Games. for me, again in the  
nearby pasts, i particularly appreciate"Play it by Trust" by Yoko Ono  
from 1966 (in terms of gallery-based work) + "Prisoners' Dilemma" by  
Richard Serra from 1974 (in terms of experimental Media Art) as  
important/inspirational points of reference + critical engagements.

// jonCates
# Assistant Professor - Film, Video & New Media
# The School of the Art Institute of Chicago
# http://saic.edu/~jcates
# Game As Art, Art as Game
# http://artgames.ning.com