weinbergc

Artist Statement

I decided to make a game about Racism. Specifically, I wanted to make a game about being one of the first black people to take classes in an all white school. I based my game on the Little Rock nine and the history surrounding their entry into Central High.

I had two inspirations for this game. Firstly, one of my favorite aspects of Dada art was how it was unafraid to comment on the political situation in Europe before World War II. I specifically remembered Cut with the Dada Kitchen Knife through the Last Weimar Beer-Belly Cultural Epoch in Germany, by Hannah Höch because of how each section of the piece critiqued a part of the art and political scene. This was part of my inspiration for making a political game.

The second inspiration was that I went to a wealthy, mostly white private high school. There were black kids in it, but they were uncommon. I knew one of the kids, Micheal, pretty well, but I never ended up asking him if it felt strange to be surrounded by white people all the time. My original game idea was to make a game based on him.

But I know nothing about what he went through. I ended up asking other people who were in similar situations while making this game, but after getting about halfway through the game, I realized that I would not be the right person to make this game. I could not capture that experience well. I think someone should make the game I originally wanted to make, but I feel someone else could capture that experience far more accurately.

I decided to make my game more historically based then. Specifically, I based my game on the Little Rock Nine. Everything the people in this game say is based on what was actually said to the members of the little rock nine. And everything that happens to the main character ended up happening to the black kids in Central High.

I would never thought of making this game had I not been in this class. I think the one misconception this class has cleared up for me is that art games can’t be fun. I used to think that art games were not fun because making a point and creating a fun game seemed almost contradictory to me. But after seeing people in this class make games that did both well, I understand that is not true.

Also, this class has made me a better designer.  I was told that games were experiences before entering this class, but I never quite grasped the significance of that. Now I understand that a good game is about how to communicate the experience you want to clearly. And often times, that experience might be something like racism.

little-rock

The Rap Intervention

Artist Statement

I thought of the project from watching the intervention example in class where people ended up freezing in place in the middle of the city.  But I could not just copy what they did, so I tried to create something along the same lines as this project. At first, I thought maybe dancing in the street would be fun, but I decided not to do that as I already did that earlier. So I decided that maybe rapping for people would be fun.

With the thought that I should go around and rap for people, I started to think of where I might be able to do this. There were many good suggestions, but then I realized that I did not have to stay put in one place. I could go to the people.

So I made a sign saying “Free Raps” over it and walked around. I ended up walking around curry, a little bit of the first floor the library (I did not want to disturb people) and outside. I would ask people to give me a word and then I would give a one verse rap to it. Keep in mind, I have no rapping ability whatsoever.

People either ignored me or laughed when I walked by with my sign. When I rapped for people, they always had a big smile on their face. That is the biggest positive takeaway from all this: I brightened some people’s days.

The Video

Backpack Utensil Basketball

Artist’s Statement

The basic idea for my work is to show that you can make the most well known games using some of the simplest and most common objects around. For my game, I used a pencils, erasers, and a backpack. But you can also use other objects for my game as well.

I thought of the concept of my game from remembering all the failed shots I have made trying to throw a piece of paper into a trashcan. This is already a classic example of appropriation, and my game only seeks to make this mechanic more portable.

Goal

The goal of this game is to throw as many pencils, pens, erasers.. etc, into your own backpack.

Rules

There is no limit to the number of people that can play this game. The only thing that is required is a backpack and utensils that can be thrown into a backpack.

If there is more than one player, than each player takes turns throwing utensils into the backpack. Each player throws the same amount of utensils and the number of utensils to be thrown in is set at the start of the game.

Each time a player successfully throws a utensil into the backpack, they gain a point. The person with the most points at the end wins.