Art + Tech Panel: Games and Art
This panel brings together scholar and artist Brian Schrank, indie game developer Johnnemann Nordhagen, and immersive journalist Nonny de la Peña to explore expanding roles of immersive technologies and video games in society. Each panelist will give a brief presentation on her/his work, followed by a moderated discussion.
The Art + Tech Speaker Series features conversations between artists and scholars on themes related to art, science, and technology. Participants include contemporary artists and scholars from different fields, from the humanities to science and technology, who deal with similar concepts through different means. At each event, the panelists give brief presentations on their own work and participate in a facilitated discussion on the evening's theme. The panels are organized to coincide with ongoing discussions in Caltech undergraduate classes and are intended to be of general interest to Caltech faculty, students, and the community at large.
Demonstration of the VR work of Nonny de la Peña
8-12 minute VR experience
January 29, come any time between 3-6:30 pm
Sherman Fairchild Library, Room 326
Open to the public
Speaker Bios:
Nonny de la Peña, Founder & CEO of Emblematic
Nonny is widely regarded as one of the most influential pioneers in virtual and augmented reality, and is known for creating the genre of immersive journalism. As CEO of Emblematic Group, her digital reality media company, she uses cutting edge technologies to tell stories that create intense, empathic engagement on the part of viewers. Emblematic is also pushing the envelope with branded content and an experiential volumetric search platform. She is a former correspondent for Newsweek and her virtual reality work has been featured by the New York Times, BBC, Mashable, Vice, Wired and many others. She is a winner of the Knight Innovation Award, New America Fellow, and Yale Poynter Media Fellow.
Johnnemann Nordhagen, Founder of Dim Bulb Games, Co-founder of Fullbright
Johnnemann started his career in video games as a QA tester and has had a varied path since - working at Sony's Research and Development department during the launch of the PlayStation 3, then working on games such as Bioshock and The Bureau: XCOM Declassified. In 2012 he quit his job and founded the indie studio The Fullbright Company in Portland. He was the sole programmer on the indie hit Gone Home and has since founded his own studio, Dim Bulb Games. He is creating Where the Water Tastes Like Wine, a bleak American folktale about traveling and telling stories that will release in early 2018.
Brain Schrank, Associate Professor of Game Development, Theory and Design, Depaul University
Brian is associate professor and chair of Game Design at DePaul University in Chicago. He founded and directs the Virtual and Augmented Design Lab, developing art games exhibited internationally. His MIT Press book "Avant-garde Videogames: Playing with Technoculture" situates games within the context of art history and the avant-garde.
This series is made possible through the support of the James Michelin Distinguished Visitors program established in 1992 to bring to Caltech "notable, innovative thinkers who will be able to spark the imagination of faculty and students alike and stimulate thought and discussion on a wide range issues," with special emphasis on the "creative interaction between science and the arts."