Issue 27 07.15.2011
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Agency in Video Games
Video games, when designed in a robust way, create a rich system of interactivity that empowers players. Through exploration and play, they develop a sense of their own agency within that system and, in some cases, a sense of the inner workings of that system: how it functions and their ability to change it. To perceive both the reaches and limits of interactive player power is […]
The Art of Sharon Paz
A merry-go-round of scenes that offer only excerpts of action, without developing any clear narrative or suspense. This strategy also runs through artist Sharon Paz’s performances, theatrical installations, and video works. Scene one: silhouettes of a high-rise building skyline by night, blue smoke clouds, and a small group of people with Mickey Mouse ears who […]
What Is Digital Humanities and…
…what’s It Doing in English Departments? What is (or are) the “digital humanities,” aka “humanities computing”? It is tempting to say that whoever asks the question has not gone looking very hard for an answer. “What is digital humanities?” essays like this one are already genre pieces. Willard McCarty has been contributing papers on the subject […]
The Art of Beatriz da Costa
Beatriz da Costa is an interdisciplinary artist whose work is inspired by contemporary art, science, politics, and engineering. After studying at the Ecole d’Art d’Aix en Provence in France, she is currently an associate professor at University of California, Irvine in the school of engineering. She bases her work on public involvement, region-targeted media, conceptual […]
Artists & Virtual Environment
We are in the process of making the world, to a certain extent, in our own image. – Barnett Newman, Selected Writings (1953) Artists entering online virtual environments that offer the ability to create three-dimensional objects in space, such as Linden Lab’s Second Life, encounter a set of materials, forces, and interactions unlike those that they encounter in […]
Other Formats…
The SWITCH Development Team has produced the first ever ePub/eBook of SWITCH Journal for Edition 27! Click to download!