[-empyre-] Game Art as an art subculture?

[micha cárdenas]

2010/12/22 Daniel Cook <danc at spryfox.com>:
> strongly driven by economic processes.  What is the economic function of art
> institutes in the creation of games and do we need them?  Historically, it
> seems that the modern art world acts as a certification process to ensure
> quality combined with a marketing / distribution network for promoting and
> selling certified works.  In emerging markets like social and mobile games,
> where I primarily focus, these functions appear to be extraneous.   The
> distribution is weak compared to the digitally facilitated word of mouth
> that drives social networks.  The certification is not meaningful to the
> target audience.

Hi Daniel,

I think this is an astute observation about the commercialization of
art, but I think there's a more complex process involved here. Would
you agree that both art institutions and artists and game makers all
rely on reputation building? Some of the strength of art institutions
is just in the sheer capital they have to reach people through
conventional advertising. It's just a myth, IMHO, that anyone can post
a video on youtube and get it seen by millions of people without some
minstream media coverage, except for in a few very rare cases which I
would guess are about the odds of winning the lottery. So, even if you
made a really great game, how many people are going to see it and how?


  micha





-- 
micha cárdenas
Associate Director of Art and Technology
Culture, Art and Technology Program, Sixth College, UCSD

Co-Author, Trans Desire / Affective Cyborgs, Atropos Press, http://is.gd/daO00
Artist/Researcher, UCSD School of Medicine
Artist/Theorist, bang.lab, http://bang.calit2.net

blog: http://transreal.org

gpg: http://is.gd/ebWx9