Curator's Note

Interaction

The festival A MAZE. Interact …celebrating the convergence of games, art, and music, reflects the increasing amalgamation of computer games and music from multiple perspectives. With the 5+2 modules consisting of the Interact Symposium (1), Workshops (2), Interact Installations (3), A MAZE. Jump’n Run Bonus Cheat (4), and Music-Games Exhibition (5) the program breaks with established formats.

Invited artists show installations, performances or concerts, but also share their know-how within the symposium or workshops. Moreover, as computer games form an increasingly dominant part of the creative industries, the overlap between game and music production is investigated. The practical approaches of the two extra levels Games Culture Circle and Global Game Jam extend the program accordingly. With the locations .HBC, SPA and WMF equally modular and variable venues were found.

The festival highlights the courage for experimentation and the joy of playing. It reflects the intersection of technology and play in contemporary digital culture as well as new forms of interaction. The possibility to alter content in real time has inspired a continuous state of flux in the entertainment media. The resulting structural transformations within the cultural economy, together with current developments in the fields of music, game design, and art, have created a demand for modular formats that are both dynamic and interdisciplinary. Interaction generates change – with its festival Interact, A MAZE. addresses this major cultural shift. Computer games and – in particular electronic – music have much in common. The strategy of the festival programming roots in concepts of playing music rather than making music. Especially technology, interaction, and performance provide surprising parallels. Nevertheless, process and result of the experiences are quite different. On the process side, playing with a computer game means to experiment with predefined rules and structures. Although there are games that allow for quite intuitive music composition, the principles of computer games stand in stark contrast to the spontaneous, free, and improvised handling of a musical instrument. Music games exemplify the generally ambivalent nature of rules: whilst restricting action space, they produce new opportunities for interacting with music. Play forms the intersection between music and games that wants to be explored. Many examples are shown in module 5, the Music-Games Exhibition, which is open for play. All exhibits have one thing in common: music lies at the core of their gameplay.

The heart of the festival, however, is the Interact Symposium (module 1). It provides the theoretical backdrop for the theme of convergences between computer games, art, and music. The lectures of renowned international speakers analyze the future of music, games, and music-games in reference to the historical development of the genre and contemporary art practices. In module 2, artists featured in the festival share insights into the technological aspects of their work with interested participants.

Topics of the workshops and seminars range from experimental programming to hardware hacking, interface design, and music production within the context of computer games. The installations of module 3 open up new tactile and acoustic ways of accessing music. This means that the creation of music can be experienced on a completely different level. The A MAZE. Jump’n Run Bonus Cheat (module 4) forms the closing party of the festival. Here interaction takes its most literal shape. An international mix of game-inspired music, live acts, and DJ-sets, combined with interactive installations and playful visuals is bound to create an all-encompassing festival highlight at WMF.

The extra level, Games Culture Circle, is a talk-show format designed to trigger interdisciplinary inspiration and build up unexpected partnerships. International and local experts discuss visions of social and economic developments in production, distribution, and reception of computer games and music. The Global Game Jam is a unique game design event taking place simultaneously at more than 120 sites worldwide. For 48 hours, creatives of all professions come together to code, design, compose, and play, until they have reached their goal: creating games collectively.

The cooperation of A MAZE. and DISK/CTM turns these 5+2 modules into prototypes of the CTM.10 – OVERLAP festival theme – the intersection of sound and other media. Together they encourage interdisciplinary exchange within the context of action and exhibition spaces.

A MAZE. Interact is curated by Thorsten S. Wiedemann and Michael Liebe. Supported by Karla Höß, Emily Völker, Jöran Eitel, Martina Kellner, Katrin Werner, Christina Manoliu, Arjan Dhupia, Georg Spehr and many others.

With: Angel Galán & M. Lastra, Ándy C. Reschke, Andreas Lange, Barbara Lippe, Chris Sugrue, Christian Candid, Computadora, Damian Stewart, Flavio Escribano, GeisBaba, Gabriel Vanegas, Gerald Schauder, Heiko Gogolin, Jaro Gabski, Jakob Penca, Jonas Hansen, Julian Oliver, Katja Harms, Karin Lingnau, Keiichi Yano, Lasse Scherffig, Leonard Paul, Marek Plichta, Markus Kühn, Martin Pichlmair, Michael Harenberg, Notic Nastic, Paulina Bozek, Raphaël Isdant, Raquel Meyers, Robert Glashüttner, ServandoBarriero, STU, Patric Catani, Thomas Hawranke, Tine Papendick, Verena Dauerer, and WiiJ Timski.