For a lot of people, video games mean Mario. Donkey Kong. A hero in a first-person-shooter or fantasy land trying to save the day. But as technology has improved, independent game designers have created immersive games that don’t even have characters, let alone heroes. Starting May 8th, the Art Center of Battle Creek will be featuring a few of those new games, plus a few classics, as part of its exhibit called “The Art of the Video Game.”
When it comes to their experience with video games, Heather Stratton and Josh Holderbaum are near-opposites. And their respective sections of the “Art of the Video Game” exhibit at the Art Center of Battle Creek reflect that.
Holderbaum is pretty much exactly what you imagine when you think of a gamer. As a kid, he spent hours in front of a TV playing fighting games. He even collected posters and action figures from old-school games, like “Final Fantasy” and “The Legend of Zelda.”
Those figures now sit in small glass cases in his part of the exhibit. They’re surprisingly detailed and intricate.
"There aren’t that many video game figures. Video games aren’t that old compared to comic books and movies and stuff, so to get figures from things I play, that’s nice," Holderbaum says. "I just like showing off action figures because everyone can relate to that. They’ve played as a kid or they say, 'Oh yeah, I played that game. I never knew they made a figure of that.' So it’s a nice unifier of people."
But walk into the next part of the exhibit, curated by Heather Stratton, and the games barely even resemble what Holderbaum grew up playing.
Stratton comes from the art world. She was first exposed to video games only a year ago when she was brought in to help design a game. When she looked around to see what was out there, she realized a lot of games weren’t just first person shooters.
"And I realized that there are many different ways you can use the platform of game design to show your art in a different way," she explains. "So I was very excited about that and also excited about video gaming because I really wasn’t a gamer before. And seeing all these really unique video games that had more of a fine art lean to them rather than the typical shoot 'em up games."
At the Art Center, Stratton has five of these kinds of games, displayed on computers around the room for users to play and interact with. There’s less fighting. More puzzles, sound design, handmade shapes and images. Most likely, they’re like nothing you’ve played before.
Inside the center, Stratton pulls up to a computer and launches one of the games, called “SoundSelf.” There are no characters here, or even a story line. Instead, the screen resembles a long, dark tunnel, with a tiny, flower-like design in the middle.
"It uses your voice only," Stratton says. "And puts you in a place of relaxation and meditation. So that was different. You’re interacting with it differently than with a keyboard or a mouse or a game controller."
"The developers say you should be in a silent room so you should be watching and listening," Stratton explains. "You stand here and go 'Ohm...'"
As Stratton hums to the computer, the different shapes and fractals start to multiply. Soon, the computer is making its own hums back at Stratton. It’s a strange kind of loop of sights and sounds, from computer to human to computer again. Like a trance.
This, Stratton says, is what’s so exciting about these kinds of video games. Art can be a very passive experience. See it on a wall, stare at it for a few minutes, and keep on walking. But with a video game, you’re part of the art. And she hopes that interaction will bring in art enthusiasts and gamers alike. The “Art of the Video Game” exhibit runs from May 8th through 30th at the Art Center of Battle Creek.
