The Art of Video Games

Once dismissed as toys and child’s play, video games are now radically transforming how we interact with art and culture. In this seminar, we’ll explore the contemporary world of video games—primarily indie games and art games—in the broader context of the arts and humanities. What does it mean to study video games as legitimate forms of artistic and cultural expression? What is art? What is a game? How do we parse the changing lines between art, entertainment, culture, technology, and play? How do video games draw from and intersect with other disciplines? In what ways, for example, do they build on the formal elements found in painting, music, dance, theater, literature, film, architecture, mathematics, graphic design, and other cultural forms? This seminar provides an introduction to these questions by surveying the diverse contexts in which games are developed and studied as works of art. Designed for gamers and non-games alike, the course will teach students how to read games, write about games, discuss games, and even make a game of their own. No gaming experience is required—just a healthy desire to learn more about how video games are expanding the possibilities for creative expression.

•    Jonathan Hennessey (Author) and Jack McGowan (Illustrator), The Comic Book Story of Video Games: The Incredible History of the Electronic Gaming Revolution
•    Jesper Juul, Handmade Pixels: Independent Video Games and the Quest for Authenticity
•    John Sharp, Works of Game: On the Aesthetics of Games and Art