-What role do videogames play in our lives today?
-As the boundaries between the virtual and the real blur more and more in the new gaming worlds we have come to inhabit, new conditions arise.
With the theme Gaming Realities medi@terra 06 aims to explore the different dimensions and developments in the gaming fields and the impact they have on the different fields of society today. This year’s Festival and International Conference set up to explore the diverse ideas, narratives, and ideologies involved in the video games.


Videogames express and reflect today’s world – its aesthetics and technologies, give rise to new identities and new mentalities.
Medi@terra Festival has invited individuals who have realised the importance and dimensions which this field has acquired, asking them to deposit their viewpoints and experiences with regard to the connections of the game to society, the identity and psychology of the player, the space and narration of the game, new technologies and conceptions and possibilities for the computer game to comprise the key art of 21st century.

'Gaming Realities: the Challenge of Digital Culture' is a three days International Conference [6-8 October, Athens] organised by Fournos Centre for the Digital Culture.

57 papers will be presented in the following thematic units:

Gaming Situation: Game-Player-Society
[Gaming Society / Identity and Psychology of the Player / Game Politics]
Gaming Environments
[Game in Urban Space / Gaming New Narratives / Gaming Technologies / Immersion in Game]
Game Art
[Game Art and Culture / Game as art]

Keynote speakers include:
Adrian David Cheok, Director of Mixed Reality Lab, NTU Singapore, Associate Professor in the Schools of Electrical and Computer Engineering Celia Pearce, Assistant Professor, School of Literature, Communication & Culture, Ivan Allen College, Georgia Institute of Technology Chris Crawford, Game Designer (Atari), Author 'The Art of Computer Game Design' Eric Zimmerman, Game Designer, CEO, Gamelab Espen Aarseth, Associate Professor and Principal Researcher Center for Computer Games Research, IT University of Copenhagen, Co-founder and Editor-in-chief Gamestudies Frans Mδyrδ, Director of Research, Hypermedia laboratory, University of Tampere, President of DIGRA Gonzalo Frasca, IT University of Copenhagen, Editor www.ludology.org, Co-editor of www.gamestudies and www.watercolergames.org Julian Dibbell, Contributing Editor Wired Magazine, Author 'My tiny life: Crime and Passion in a Virtual World' Julian Oliver, Free-software developer, composer, media-theorist, Founder of www.selectparks.net Kristian Lukic, writer, artist, cultural and game researcher, Founder of Eastwood, Real Time Strategy Group Manthos Santorineos, artist, Artistic Director of medi@terra festival, Assistant Professor Athens School of Fine Arts Margarete Jahrmann, Professor for media arts & game arts, University of Arts and Design, Department of New Media Switzerland Matt Adams, member of the Blast Theory Micheal Mateas, Faculty Member University of California, Santa Cruz, Creator of FAΗADE Tom & Vicky Arundel, Creators of the Darwinia, Introversion Software Xavier Lardy, Storyboarder, game designer, founder of www.machinima.fr

[online registration available at www.mediaterra.org]

The conference will follow an exhibition of Game installations / Political games / Game mods / Text adventures / Game multiplayer environments / Machinimas / Sound based games

Exhibition: Alter Gaming
4-8 October, Athens, Greece

Exhibition Opening: October 4, 20.30


30 game projects by independent creators and artists from the international field that work on the new media and explore the possibilities given by the videogaming platforms. Different ‘unseen’ sides of today’s gaming realm are proposed with games characterised for their interdisciplinary character, the socio-political messages they convey, the technical and aesthetic innovations they introduce and the subversion of game standards imposed by the gaming industry.

Featuring games by
Christoph Anthes / Blast Theory / Benjamin Chang / Dimi Christopoulos / Devart / Eastwood Group / Sylvia Eckermann / Gerald Nestler / Christof Cargnelli / Oliver Irschitz / Fiambrera / David Gauthier / Henri Marino / Laurie Prevot / Jean Batiste Spieser / Troy Innocent / Introversion Software / The Ludic Society / The mamayans / Michael Mateas & Andrew Stern / Panagiotis Koutlemanis / Dimitris Dinieas / Axel Stockburger / Persuasive Games / Molleindustria / Nick Montfort / Personal Cinema / Persuasive Games / ATI / Prof. Marie-Helene Tramus / Cedric Plessier / Orna Portugaly / Daphna Talithman / Sharon Younger / Serious Games Interactive / Axel Stockburger / Tale of Tales / Julian Oliver / Steven Pickles / sheismartha / Alexandros Plakidas Dasios / University of the Aegean / Mathias Fuchs + Oliver Farshi

Machinimas La petite Anthologie de Machinimas
A compilation by Xavier Lardy (founder of machinima.fr) presenting some of the most interesting machinima works created in the last years. A collaboration of Paris Cinema, the Forum des Images and Machinima.fr that premiered in Paris last July.

Including projects by:
Ethan Vogt / Bernie Burns / Dave Lloyd and Matt Kelland / Pierce Portocarrero / Hugh Hancock / Ezra Ferguson and Terran Gregory / Katherine Anna Kang / Paul Marino / Friedrich Kirschner / G Hoffmann / Alex Chan

PLUS!
Special Sound performances + parties
by the Videogame Orchestra
Mathias Fuchs + Oliver Farshi
that mix old video game tunes with contemporary electronic sounds offering a different unique navigation in a audiovisual environment

More information and details
www.mediaterra.org
or contact
info@mediaterra.org
tel +302106460748
FAX +302106470069

Organised by Fournos, Center for Digital Culture With the collaboration and support of Hellenic Ministry of Culture, General Secretariat of Youth, British Council, American Embassy, French Institute of Athens, Embassy of Switzerland, Embassy of Austria, Technopolis, AKTO
Sponsors: Sony Playstation, Sony, FNAC
Internet Sponsor: Forthnet
Media Sponsors: Computer Games, Game Pro, Ozon magazine, MAD TV, Rock Fm, Games Radio, Highlights, Ozon, Start, Videorama, Cultureguide.gr