Workshop: ARCHITECTONICS OF GAME WORLDS (Universität Köln 18.-19.03.2019)

The international workshop will be held in context of the DFG funded research project “Open-WorldStructures: Architecture, City- and Landscape in Computer Games” (Marc Bonner 2017-2020) and addresses the matter of (1) architecture in game worlds in the sense of its media specific spatialization, architectural layouts and the role of architecture, as well as (2) the architecture of computer games themselves in the sense of systematics, structures and media specific logics between algorithms and databases – worldbuilding from a different angle.
Thus, the participants will thematise aesthetics of reception as well as aesthetics of production and approach the complex constitution of computer games from a wide range of disciplines – from Media and Game Studies to Art History, Sound Studies to Architecture, Design to Phenomenology and Embodiment, as well as Spatial Theory and Cultural Studies. The aim of the workshop is to channel multi-disciplinary approaches and current research projects to fuel an interest towards an understanding of computer games as spatial, architectural or world phenomena within the current digital media culture. Furthermore, it is to explore and discuss concepts and methodologies from other disciplines and the potential transfer as useful tools in Game Studies.
18.03.2019
- 10:45 a.m. Distant Agricultural Splendor: National Identity, Agricultural Labor, and
Space in Farming Simulator
Derek Price Vanderbuilt University/University of Cologne - 11:05 a.m Taking a Breath of the Wild – Paidiatic Spaces and Practices Off the Ludic Grid
Cornelia Janina Schnaars [University of Bayreuth] - 11:25 a.m. Feels Right – How Atmospheres of the Past Satisfy Expectations of Authenticity
Felix Zimmermann [University of Cologne] - 11:45 a.m. Coffee Break
- 12:00 p.m. Virtual Space and Video Game Photography: Towards a Socio-Political Reading of In-Game Photography
Vladimir Rizov [University of Suffolk] - 12:20 p.m. The World Machine: Self-Reflexive Worldmaking in OneShot
Theresa Krampe [Justus-Liebig University Gießen] - 12:40 p.m. Towards an Operationalized Definition of Procedural Representation
Michal Švarný [Charles University Prague] - 1:00 p.m. Registration/Lunch
- 1:30 p.m. Welcoming Speech/Introduction
Marc Bonner [University of Cologne] - 2:00 p.m. Protean Spaces. On the Aesthetics of Reconfiguring Game Spaces
Hans-Joachim Backe [ITU Copenhagen] - 2:45 p.m. Learning from Las Vegas … about Video Games and Virtual Reality Experiences
Gundolf S. Freyermuth [Cologne Game Lab, TH Cologne] - 3:30 p.m. Coffee Break
- 3:45 p.m. Labyrinth
Rolf F. Nohr [Braunschweig University of Art] - 4:30 p.m. Personal and Cinematic Landscapes in Games
Rune Klevjer [Universitet Bergen] - 5:15 p.m. Coffee Break
- 5:30 p.m. Ludoforming
Espen Aarseth [ITU Copenhagen] - 6:15 p.m. Get Together/Dinner
19.03.2019
- 10:00 a.m. Borderless Sound
Marcus Erbe [University of Cologne] - 10:45 a.m. Coffee Break
- 11:00 a.m. »I love how you can see the bottom of the universe from this room…«
The Inside-Out-Architecture of Davey Wreden’s The Beginner’s Guide
Benjamin Beil [University of Cologne] - 11:45 a.m. The Interior of Video Games
Thomas Hensel [University of Applied Sciences Pforzheim] - 12:30 p.m. Lunch
- 1:30 p.m. Two Ways to Dwell: Hestial and Hermetic Dwelling in Digital Game Worlds
Daniel Vella [University of Malta] - 2:15 p.m. The ‘Lived Spaces’ of Computer Games
Stephan Günzel [University of Applied Sciences Europe/BTK Berlin] - 3:00 p.m. Coffee Break
- 3:15 p.m. Sense of Being Here: 3D Spaces Between Vision and Haptics
Carolin Höfler [Köln International School of Design, TH Cologne] - 4:00 p.m. The Architectural Continuum – Choropoietic Media and PostPhysical-World Spatial Aesthetics
Constantinos Miltiadis [TU Graz] - 4:45 p.m. Dreaming in the Witch House
Thomas Hawranke [Susigames/Paidia Institute/Academy of Media Arts Cologne] - 5:45 p.m. Round Up Discussion
Due to limited seating, advanced registration is required. Please contact mbonner@uni-koeln.de for further details.
For a detailed description of each talk, the corresponding abstracts may be found here:
https://bit.ly/2Tl2VU7
Organiser: Marc Bonner
University of Cologne
911 Modulbau
Weyertal 119a
Seminarraum S224