gold extra takes part in the Science Meets Fiction Festival!
SCIENCE MEETS FICTION FESTIVAL
Since 2018, Science meets Fiction has been dealing with the interplay between technological developments, social transformation processes and their cultural processing in fictional designs for the future. The science fiction festival takes place annually in Salzburg over two weeks in the fall. The interdisciplinary platform is sponsored by the City of Salzburg, organized by the Robert Jungk Library for Future Studies and the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, and supported by the commitment of numerous cultural and knowledge institutions in the city. The artists' collective gold extra, the Literaturhaus Salzburg and Salzburg's film cultural center DAS KINO have been involved from the very beginning.
Events: 24.9.-6.10. 2018; 23.9.-4.10.2019, 29.9.-9.10. 2020, 20.9.-3.10. 2021, 26.9.-7.10. 2022, 25.9.-6.10. 2023
Information about the festival: http://www.sciencemeetsfiction.org
Friday, September 27. 2024, ROSA-BEIGER SALON in the FÜNZIGZWANZIG, 19.30h
Admission: free
GAME TALK: Play, Create, Model: AI in Games
Lecture by Sebastian Frisch; followed by a discussion with Sonja Prlić and Martin Loecker
Cooperation with the event series "Obstacle" by Fünfzigzwanzig
AI and games: We explore the diverse aspects of the integration of artificial intelligence in the gaming world with Sebastian Frisch, who is part of the AI and XR research cluster at the media art institution V2_ in Rotterdam. From chatbot-controlled NPCs to procedural content and personalized gaming experiences, AI elements are already an integral part of contemporary games. But do we want to play with AI?
The questions: What are the challenges and opportunities for developers? What ethical concerns (AI bias) are there? To what extent can the use of AI even counteract the immersive effect of games? We will take a look at up-and-coming games, discuss a selection of research projects and try to define the current limits of these systems. The lecture will be followed by a discussion with Sonja Prlić and Martin Loecker.
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Sebastian Frisch, MMus BA BSc, conducts research in the fields of extended realities, 3D audio and multisensory environments. After a double degree in MultimediaArt and MultimediaTechnology at the Salzburg University of Applied Sciences, he completed the ArtScience Master's program at the Royal Academy of Art and the Royal Conservatoire in The Hague.
Since 2022 he has been working as a project manager at the media art institute V2_, Lab for the Unstable Media in Rotterdam (NL). Among other things, he is part of the AI and XR research clusters there, which deal intensively with current developments in the overlapping subject areas.
The "Obstacle" event series is overseen by changing curators; the curator of the evening is Martin Loecker.
Friday, October 6. 2023, THE CINEMA, 19.30h
Admission: free
GAME TALK: Time Travel and Time Loops in Games
Lecture by Andreas Rauscher, game presentations by Melanie Bartl (We Are One) and Milo Loder (Panta Rhei); talk with Sonja Prlić.
Language: Lectures and talks will be in GERMAN.
Time travel is the theme of the Science Meets Fiction Festival 2023. The researcher and author Andreas Rauscher and the two game developers Melle Bartl (Flat Head Studio) and Milo Loder (Reignite Games, Causa Creations) show exciting insights into the play with time in films and games. The two presented games "We are One" and "Panta Rhei" were partly produced in Salzburg and will be released in 2023.
The short lecture: Time travel in video games is the continuation of a motif that is very familiar from science fiction. But at the same time, as a game mechanic and ludonarrative challenge, they also create new dramaturgical forms, which Andreas Rauscher's short lecture "Transmediale Time-Loops - Zeitschleifen als dramaturgisches Konzept und spielerische Herausforderung" traces. Rauscher, a media cultural scientist, has been dealing with time travel in various media for a long time, among others in the book "Zeitreisen in Zelluloid" (Time Travel in Celluloid), co-edited with Jörg Helbig.
In addition, two games will be presented that thematize the game with time: Melanie Bartl presents the virtual reality game "We Are One" (Flat Head Studio), in which the players clone themselves and save Mother Nature with time loops as plants. She presents important (and funny) milestones from the development of the game as well as the artistic exploration of the theme of nature vs. machines.
Milo Loder presents the Rogue-Like adventure game "Panta Rhei", in which the players try to save the flow of time. In doing so, they explore the mystical realm of time: the place where time itself originates. Milo Loder will give insights into the development of the game, especially into the visual and narrative realization.
The presentations will be followed by a talk with Sonja Prlić.
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Dr. habil. Andreas Rauscher researches and teaches at the Albert-Ludwigs-Universität Freiburg im Breisgau at the Institute for Media Cultural Studies. His areas of focus include film studies, game studies, media aesthetics, science fiction and comics research.
Melanie Bartl is co-founder of Flat Head Studio, art director and 2D/3D artist. "We Are One" was released in June 2023.
Milo Loder is a programmer and game designer (Causa Creations), co-founder and art director (Reignite Games). "Panta Rhei" will be released in fall/winter 2023.
Dr. Sonja Prlić, MA, is an artist, co-founder of gold extra and artistic researcher, working at the Focus on Science & Art, University Mozatreum and University of Salzburg, among others.
Links:
Dr. Andreas Rauscher, "Zeitreisen in Zelluloid": https://www.andreas-rauscher.de/
Flat Head Studio, "We Are One": https://www.flathead-studio.com/index.html
Reignite Games, "Panta Rhei": https://www.pantarheigame.com/
Friday, October 7th, 2022, Das Kino. 19.30h
Augmented Reality, Insects and Us
Lecture by Kris Hofmann and GAME TALK with Sonja Prlić and Kris Hofmann. IN GERMAN
AR installations by Kris Hofmann are available in the foyer of Das Kino.
Our meadows are getting quieter and quieter. Insect mortality is equal to climate catastrophe in its urgency, but has not yet arrived in the collective consciousness of society in this way.
Kris Hofmann's immersive augmented reality animated film Insects & Us invites you to watch insects perform simple but essential tasks for our ecosystems, while four renowned scientists talk about why these little creatures are so important to us and what can be done to help them.
How do science and art come together here? Can new technologies like augmented reality contribute to science education? How can we perceive what we actually already know? Kris Hofmann deals with these and other questions in numerous, often award-winning works. In her extraordinary augmented reality experiences and animated films, we get to know insects and bookworms or learn the history of food over breakfast. In conversation with Sonja Prlić, Kris Hofmann talks about her ideas and experiences and presents her new augmented reality story.
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Kris Hofmann has been working as a freelance animator and art director since completing her master's degree at the Royal College of Art in London (2010). Since 2018 she lives and works in Vienna and is focused on the development and design of immersive augmented reality films and experiences.
Friday, Oct. 1st, 2021; DAS KINO; 19.30h
How to talk to others by Games
Lecture by Aleksandra Jarosz and Game Talk wih Sonja Prlic and Aleksandra Jarosz in ENGLISH
It's the end of the world as we know it - and then what? The young Polish game artist Aleksandra Jarosz shows ways how to get into conversation by computer games: Her work mixes activist and research strategies. In 2019 she was the game designer of Fantastic Fetus, which was created against the backdrop of the Polish anti-abortion laws and eventually became a political protest game. The game is a pregnancy tamagotchi involving superpowers. As a psychologist, she designed the game “Indygo”, delicately depicting the subject of depression and completed her PhD studies with a game to test the emotional response of players. In this Game Talk, she will discuss the possibilities of games to initiate debates and open conversations.
Aleksandra Jarosz is a psychologist and game designer at Purple Lamp Studio in Vienna. Her PhD project at the Academy of Arts, Katowice, discusses personality measurement in games.
Friday, Oct., 2nd 2020, DASKino
Worlds in Transition- How much Reality Can a Game Afford?
Game Talk with Arno Görgen and Sonja Prlić
The pandemic sharpened our perception for the digital and virtual aspects of our daly life - from socual media, video chats, computer games becoming social distancing-friendly meeting points and virtual venues like Fortnite Game Nights. When do we play which role, which game? Where does the game end and reality begins?
And what about computer games? Games allow for complex social experiences nowadays. Horror-game expert Arno Görgen speaks about what computer games tell us about our dealing with pandemics, trauma and mental illness.
Arno Görgen is a medical ethicist, cultural scientist and expert forcomputer games, currently researching horror games and politics in a scientific project at the Bern University of the Arts. In a talk with the media artist and artistic researcher Sonja Prlić both will explore the interplay of reality and play in a wide range of games.
The talk will be in German.
Arno Görgen, Kulturhistoriker, erforscht die Zusammenhänge von Biomedizin; Bioethik und Krankheitsdiskursen und Popkultur - mit einem Schwerpunkt auf digitalen Spielen - sowie Politik und Geschichte in digitalen Spielen. 2018 hat er zum Thema der medialen Skandalisierung von sexueller Gewalt an Kindern promoviert. Derzeit forscht er gemeinsam mit Eugen Pfister an der Hochschule der Künste Bern im Projekt „Horror-Game-Politics“. Hier zweitpromoviert er zu Medikalisierung in Horrorspielen.
Sein neues Buch "Krankheit in Digitalen Spielen: Interdisziplinäre Betrachtungen", herausgegeben zusammen mit Stefan Heinrich Simond ist bei transcript ist gerade erschienen. Ein Blick ins Buch kann man hier werfen -> https://www.transcript-verlag.de/978-3-8376-5328-1/krankheit-in-digitalen-spielen/
Fr., 4.10., 19h ARGEkultur, Studio
“I'm building myself a world...” - Playing and Talking about Games.
Talk withJames Patton and Karl Zechenter (20h). Open at 19h: Indie Games of Cyberpunk genre
… just how I like it: Indie Games concerning politics and technology in ARGEkultur Salzburg with James Patton, producer of Spinnortality: How does politics come into computer games? What are the right rules for a cyberpunk strategy games? What does happen if your Indie game becomes a hit on Steam?
We are curiously anticipating when the upheavals related to Artificial Intelligence will be seen and felt? Likely curious much the same way the intelligent machines around us await the moment, when we will discover that they are already there:. Smart Assistants, Chatbots, Fitness-Tracker are part of our everyday-life. Which rules do we want to develop for our future? How do we want to live?
James Patton, developer of the cyberpunk strategy-game Spinnortality, let's us take the position of the CEO of a global corporation and speaks about the relationship between games and politics, the game balance and rules and his work as independent game developer.
Game Lounge with Spinnortality and Cyberpunk Games, 19h
Talk with James Patton, 20h
Mehr Information als Download unter Presse nebenan
(only in German)
Mi., 26.9., 19h DAS KINO, Salon
“Cyborg ärgere dich nicht” - Spielen und Sprechen über Games.
Talk mit Rudolf Inderst, Sonja Prlić und Karl Zechenter (ab 20h). Ab 19h offen: Computerspiele und VR zum Testen
Games u.a. The Station (gold extra), Fallout VR, Quanero (Laserboys 3000) VR, Games von ProduzentInnen aus Salzburg, Machinimas von Deus Ex, und viele mehr.
Schneller laufen, besser sehen, höher springen, schneller reagieren, so schnell so als ob die Zeit stillstehen würde – ein neuer Konsens über das Menschliche und Maschinelle wird derzeit verhandelt – und das geschieht seit geraumer Zeit auch in Computerspielen. Wir laden sie ein mit uns in und mit Computerspielen einen Blick in die Zukunft zu werfen.
Game Session und Gespräch mit Rudolf Inderst und Sonja Prlić
Abendmoderation: Karl Zechenter
Mehr Information als Download unter Presse nebenan
WE THANK:
Florian Jindra / FH Salzburg, Sebastian Linz, Theresa Seraphin, Gunther Seiser and the ARGEkultur team, Renate Wurm and the Das Kino team, Robert Praxmarer / polycular, Salzburger Kunstverein, Schwerpunkt Wissenschaft & Kunst, SZENE Salzburg and to many others who helped, thanks a lot!
