Free Software Art

Today Estación Futuro (the Intermediae at Matadero Madrid project about games and play) opened officially with our first project, an exhibition of Kenta Cho’s more straightforward SHMUPs called Los sueños euclideos de Kenta Cho (The Euclidean Dreams of Kenta Cho), all of them under a FreeBSD license as curated by Yours Truly.

The Dharma Initiative's Play and Game Station

The project is much more than a straightforward art+games exhibition: it is also configured as an entertainment arcade for the kids in the neighbourhood (who were spending most of their afternoons using the web-connected computers to play online games anyway), and it plans to encompass other game-related activities, some of them regarding videogames (like OpenArsGames), some of them regarding real-life games with no interposed computers.

Estación Futuro operates from a geodesic dome in a repurposed abbatoir.

If you don’t know Kenta Cho, now’s your opportunity. Of late he has been working in flash, so you can just head over to the page for his gaming alter ego ABA Games and start playing, or download windows versions of the games we are showcasing at Estacion Futuro. Some of his games can also be found on Xbox and iPhone (that’s one of the advantages of free licenses: other people port your stuff for you).

If you are using a modern free software distro, you could be playing the exhibition’s selection and several other games in a matter of seconds, all thanks to your friendly package manager. And to your friendly packager, which in my case means this is the third post in a row that I have to mention Miriam Ruiz.

Or you could come over and play with us at Estacion Futuro. The Kenta Cho selection will be up until September.

In 48 hours I will be landing in Linz to attend Ars Electronica. It’s been a last minute decision, but how could I miss it on the year when the topic is A New Cultural Economy: The limits of Intellectual Property? It will be lovely to hang out with old friends and also make new ones. Feel free to approach for a chat, especially about Free Software Art. I look like this.

Shiralee Saul invited me today to participate on the Editorial Board of a new academic journal, ‘Second Nature; The International Journal of Creative Media’. This is an open-access, peer-reviewed online journal auspiced by RMIT’s School of Creative Media, and I am glad to take on the job. Sez the blurb:

Second Nature explores the distinctive particulars of and interconnections between textual, visual, aural and interactive creative research and practices. Three thematic online issues per year are planned from which will be selected content for an annual printed publication. Second Nature will also publish a range of creative projects to take advantage of the opportunities afforded by Internet publication (non-linear, interactive, multiple media, etc).

One of the aspects that most interest me about this journal is that not only calls for papers, but for projects as well. Theorists are welcome, but practitioners can also submit projects that showcase their ideas and reflections on the topics of the Journal. Lester Bangs said it best. He loved writing, but sometimes he found that:

Writing about music is like dancing about architecture.

The official deadline for the first issue was August 30 2008, but papers and projects arriving no later than the 12th of September can still make the cut.

Next Sunday (31 Sept) I will be presenting freesoftwareart.org at Dorkbot Melbourne. The time and place are as usual: Level 1, 124a Johnston St, Fitzroy. Narinda Reeders will also talk about her Help Your Self (an ATM-alike that dispenses life advice). After the session some of us will go for drinks, join us if you want.