UNC-Duke Critical Games Symposium

Friday, 24 Feb 2023, 12:30-4:00 with games showcase afterwards
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OVERVIEW

The UNC-Duke Critical Games symposium will bring together scholars and artists from UNC and Duke who engage with the crit-ical study and practice of games, both as a medium of expression and as a cultural phenomenon. The emphasis of this gathering is on art, design, culture, and critique. We will also discuss the devel- opment and sustainability of game studies and game design within and across our campuses with leaders from our respective campuses.

Presenters will share short presentations on their work, followed by Q/A and group discussion.

Lunch Included.

SCHEDULE

12:30 – 1:00:

Lunch

1:00-1:05: Welcome

• Joyce Rudinsky, Department of Communication, UNC and Victoria Szabo, Department of Art, Art History & Visual Studies, Duke University

1:05 – 2:00:

Panel 1

Discussion: Critical Game Studies and Game Design at UNC and Duke

• Courtney Rivard, UNC English Dept, Teaching Associate Professor / Director of Digital Literacy and Communications Lab

• Shai Ginsburg, Professor of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies, Duke University and Director, Duke Games and Culture Lab

• Katrina Marks, UNC Department of Communication, My Whole Life I’ve Been on the Run”: Fugitivity as a Postracial Trope in Red Dead Redemption 2

2:15 – 3:00

Panel 2:
• Stephanie Kinzinger, UNC English Department, Radical Video Game Design: Experiments in Recodifying Lovecraft’s Mythos into Anti-Racist Worldbuilding

• Doug Stark, UNC English Department, Aesthetic Exercise Machines: Video Game Training in Harun Farocki’s Serious Games and Parallel

3:15 – 4:00

Panel 3:
• Josh Youakim, UNC Department of Communication, The Game Boy of Theseus: Modding in the Material Turn

• Kelsey Brod, Computational Media, Arts & Cultures PhD Program, Duke University, Artist’s Talk: Using Game Engines to Re-present Spacetime

4:00-5:00
Game showcase