Play the Curator: The Game Worlds of Jason Rohrer

Friday, March 11th 12:30 PM, The Davis Museum at Wellesley College.

This spring, the Davis Museum proudly presents The Game Worlds of Jason Rohrer, the first museum retrospective dedicated to the work of a single video game maker. Rohrer’s work is deft, engaging, and often surprisingly moving. It refers to a diverse set of cultural influences ranging from Borgesian fiction to Black Magic; at the same time, it also engages pressing emotional, intellectual, philosophical, and social issues. Rohrer’s substantial recognition, which has included feature coverage in Wired, Esquire and The Wall Street Journal as well as inclusion in MOMA’s initial videogame acquisition, has been built on a singularly fascinating body of games. These range from the elegantly simple—such as Gravitation (2008), a game about flights of creative mania and melancholy—to others of almost Byzantine complexity. The exhibition will feature four large build-outs that translate Rohrer’s games into unique spatial experiences, alongside a section dedicated to exploring the artist’s larger oeuvre.

On three Play the Curator dates, The Game Worlds of Jason Rohrer curator Michael Maizels will lead a short gallery talk on Rohrer’s work, focusing on one of the game at each event. A lecture will be followed by an opportunity to play the curator, as well as other attendees, in selected games.

Play the Curator series featured games:

March 11 Cordial Minuet

April 8 Diamond Trust of London

May 6 Between

http://www.wellesley.edu/events/node/78161