“Free Hors d'oeuvres”
A Video Game exhibition
Curated by Dizzy Spell

@Rainbow Dome

1660 Federal Boulevard

Denver, CO, 80204

Curated by: Dizzy Spell

Gallery Hours:

July 18th - 6pm to 9pm
July 19th - 2pm-8pm
July 20th - 2pm - 6pm
July 26th - 2pm - 8pm

Opening:
July 18th from 6pm to 9pm

Click each artists photo for more information.

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Statement:

The games collected in Free Hors d’Oeuvres offer commentary on The Art World. We were attracted to those that exhibit an irreverent sense of humor. The works range from abstract low-resolution two-dimensional games to highly detailed three-dimensional experiences in a first-person point-of-view. We’ve included games that explore the sensations of living as a working artist, and the experiences of visiting galleries and museums. We’ve focused on works that are quick to learn, our own acknowledgement of the short amounts of time many gallery goers commit to viewing individual works.

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Nauris Amatnieks "Pixel Artist Simulator" (Latvia)

A day in the life of a pixel artist.

Michael Berto "The Zium Gallery 2022" (Australia and international)

The Zium Gallery is the third instalment of The Zium series. It houses a collection of works from several artists all around the world in various traditional, new and emerging mediums. The Zium is an art gallery experience build in the Unity Game Engine.

Dániel Herczeg "A brief visit to the gallery" (Hungary)

This little game could be best understood as a sketch or a study. I wanted to try my hand at an engine called Binksi at inkJam 2022. Unfortunately, I was only able to block out around 6 hours for the project. The result is a short and rough execution of an idea (in association with the jam’s theme “Incredible, yet…”) that is nevertheless a playable from start to finish.

Martha Hipley "Ekphrasis" (USA/Mexico)

Ekphrasis is a game about looking at things. I lived for many years in New York, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art was always a refuge - a public space for private moments. The experience of looking at art is as much about our personal stories, our desires, and our humor as it is about the objects themselves. What a gift to travel through time and space and imagine how you might be changed when you leave!

Mak2 "Art Survivors" (Hong Kong, China )

Art Survivors (2024), an interactive FPS (first-person shooter) game newly created by Mak2 that invites its audience virtually into the world of a fictional art fair. Filled with the artist’s own AI-generated artworks, what begins as a familiar cultural experience quickly escalates into a fight for survival – all the non-player characters have turned into zombies. Players must navigate through the fair and eliminate infected fair attendees, battling for victory in a place once of creative expression and appreciation, now turned into a labyrinth for survival.

As the living dead charge at you wearing business casual outfits, the immersive storytelling of the game becomes as thought-provoking as it is thrilling. Synthesizing the imagined tranquility of an art fair with the chaotic absurdity of a zombie outbreak, the artwork posits a humorous hyperbole of certain invisible dynamics. Complete with rankings of both the best and worst players as well as droll reenactments of common art-fair-incited behaviors, the game magnifies and examines the aspects of competition, hierarchy, trauma, and strategy that are interwoven into the starry-eyed illusion of art. Art Survivors, however, is not just a tongue-in-cheek comment on art’s Darwinist, dog-eat-dog world. It is, more importantly, a reminder of the ultimate objective: To stay alive without becoming one of the infected – and with the right adjustment to mindset, maybe even have fun.

Karina Popp "Shit Art" (USA)

You, an inimitable artist, have been commissioned by a wealthy patron to create art. As we know, art is simply consuming existing art and regurgitating it.

Filippo Meozzi and Liam Stone "DOOM: The Gallery Experience" (USA)

DOOM: The Gallery Experience was created as an art piece designed to parody the wonderfully pretentious world of gallery openings. In this experience, you will be able to walk around and appreciate some fine art while sipping some wine and enjoying the complimentary hors d’oeuvres in the beautifully renovated and re-imagined E1M1 of id Software's DOOM (1993).