Yarny, Medusa och en elefant

07 Dec 2019 – 01 Mar 2020

Exhibition

Floor 2

Videogames are everywhere. We play them on desktop screens, on devices that we hold in our hands, in our homes, on the bus, together and alone. We play with people we might never have met, who might not share our language, and whose experience of the world might be very different from our own. Behind the screens, however, is a diverse and sophisticated creative process.

"Shelter 3" (2019), © Might and Delight.

Bridging technology and imagination with artistry and craft, the artists, designers and developers making videogames are building alternate worlds. The broad array of visual styles that contribute to the field attests to the complex and collaborative creativity that videogame design demands. Studios often share common points of origin. Hand-made pencil sketches and models blend with digital animation and code to imagine worlds that entertain, puzzle, and immerse us. Characters are sculpted, narratives are scripted, and the end result—the games themselves— range from the playful to the cinematic.

Videogames and the culture that surrounds them connect, affect, and inspire us. The analogue material behind a game, however, is often buried or forgotten. This exhibition elevates a group of creatives to reveal the visual craft behind one of Sweden’s most important artistic fields.

PARTICIPATING STUDIOS
Avalanche Studios with Zeke Virant
Coldwood Interactive with Martin Sahlin
Landfall Games with Pontus Ullbors
Might and Delight with Emma Richey
Neat Corporation with Linnéa Östedt Harrison

The exhibition is produced by Illustratörcentrum and ArkDes in collaboration with Form/Design Center.

Yarny, Medusa och en elefant: The Craft of Swedish Game Design, on view at ArkDes between July 5th and August 25th 2019, is a collaboration between Illustratörcentrum and ArkDes with support from Stockholm stad and Region Stockholm. The exhibition at Form/Design Center uses elements from the original exhibition.

Director of ArkDes: Kieran Long
Curator, ArkDes: James Taylor-Foster
Co-Curator, ArkDes: Sofia Östlund
Initiators: Caroline Agné, Josefine Engström (IC)
Film Production: Karin Ekberg AB (Karin Ekberg, Patrik Forsell, Claes Hedberg, Isak Lundberg, Edvard Stokstad)

Thanks to Wacom or help with the exhibition's digital drawing stations.

ArkDes is Sweden’s national centre for architecture and design. It is a museum, a study centre and an arena for debate and discussion about the future of architecture, design and citizenship.

Illustratörcentrum (IC) is Sweden’s largest provider of visual communication. Funded by the government through the Swedish Arts Council it acts as a go-between, connecting creative talent with clients. Since its inception in the 1970s, IC has been dedicated to promoting its members: more than 1,300 professional illustrators, graphic designers, animators, game creators and cartoonists, with an unparalleled diversity of expression and cutting-edge skills.