An exhibition of artists’ game mods in New York.
Terraforms: Game Mods at Babycastles is a show I co-curated with Zach Gage for Babycastles when it inhabited the Chashama space in Midtown Manhattan. The show ran for a week, starting on January 20th, 2011.
The show featured game mods, machinima and specially-commissioned work by Anne-Marie Schleiner, Joan Leandre, Brody Condon, Myfawny Ashmore, John Hendershot, Robert Nideffer, Guthrie Lonergan, Traffic Management Ltd., Zach Gage, and Ramsey Nasser.
Terraforms received coverage from G4 TV, The Village Voice, Game Set Watch, Gamescenes and more. Click through to see our curatorial statement and other documentation.
Curatorial Statement:
◥ Terraforms – Game Mods at Babycastles ◥
( v. ) 1. to modify a world’s environment so that it can support Earth life-forms, especially humans.
An exhibition dedicated to game artists and their radical reconfigurations of traditional gamescapes.
As we move further into the digital realm, the rules that govern it are becoming increasingly transparent. What was once clearly articulated has become an amorphous set of unchallenged rules and sociological boundaries. Despite their subtlety, these digital restrictions, much like the natural laws of the physical world, affect every aspect of the increasingly virtual lifestyles we lead.
Yet, the virtural world is made of code, and its rules can be broken. These seven artists move outside of digital boundaries, forcibly modifying gamescapes while pressing us to rethink our beliefs.
◥ WORKS ◥
◥ Velvet Strike – Anne-Marie Schleiner
◢ http://www.opensorcery.net
◥ Removeallweapons This, First Person – John Hendershot
◢ http://vimeo.com/11535437
◥ Tomb Raider I and II Patches – Robert Nideffer
◢ http://switch.sjsu.edu/Cra
◥ Mario Battle No. 1, Mario is Drowning – Myfanwy Ashmore
◢ http://runme.org/project/+
◥ Rpgpaint – Guthrie Lonergan
◢ http://www.theageofmammals
◥ JFK: Reloaded – Traffic Management Ltd.
◢ http://www.fileplanet.com/
◥ Killing Spree – Zach Gage and Ramsey Nasser
◥ PERFORMANCES ◥
◥ MV Carbon
◢ http://www.metalux.cc/
◥ Lesley Flanigan
◢ http://lesleyflanigan.com/
◥ Aaron Moore (mem. Volcano the Bear)
◢ http://www.myspace.com/aar
◥ Raphael Amadeus Frankenstein
◢ http://www.mudboymusic.com
To see more photos, check out Terraforms‘ Flickr set.
PRESS COVERAGE