Labubus, Loot Boxes and the Gamblification of Everything
From Labubus to loot boxes, gambling mechanics have escaped video games to colonize daily life—turning every transaction into a chance for excitement.
Ina Chen Charts Her Family's Journey From Mao to Migration
Artist Ina Chen uses deepfakes, family archives, and interactive technology to bridge generational gaps in a moving performance about Chinese history
Alice Bucknell Soars From Pollination Simulators to Quantum Love Stories
We speak with Alice about why plants make good dance partners, how black holes are really about the wavelength of desire, and why more game artists are trying to "f*ck it up" in multiplayer design.
Teddy Pozo Explores Loss, Life, and Identity Through Interactive Clay
Artist Teddy Pozo transforms clay and circuitry into intimate gaming experiences, exploring transgender identity through sculptures that respond to human touch.
The Game Design of Severance
Ben Stiller's Severance uses game design principles to explore information, identity, and workplace control through the lens of split personalities and corporate mystery.
The Inner Lives of Lawrence Lek's Emotional AI
Lawrence Lek builds virtual worlds where AI develops consciousness, self-driving cars attend therapy, and surveillance systems dream of being wild foxes.
Harriet Davey's Glossy Aliens Reject Gaming's Binary World
Berlin-based artist Harriet Davey transforms game engines into laboratories for queer identity, creating luminescent alien creatures that challenge gaming's aesthetic norms.
Long games and the pursuit of lost time
Games demand too much time, creating cultural moats that prevent shared experience and meaningful discourse. What if brevity could unlock their potential?
Is Gerrymandering Cheating or Just A Good Strat?
American democracy operates like a complex board game where the rules keep changing, cheating is normalized, and spoilsports threaten the entire system.
How Roxanne Harris performs jazz with code
A Yale-trained computer scientist and jazz saxophonist has found a way to merge those worlds through live coding, transforming lines of Ruby script into improvisational performances that blur the boundaries between musician, programmer, and instrument.
Sam Ghantous Finds Silicon Valley in a Sand Trap
Sam Ghantous traces silica from North Carolina mines to GPUs and golf courses, revealing the geological origins of our digital obsessions through video art.
Balatro and the expected value of wonder
Balatro transforms poker into a mathematical puzzle that reveals how optimization culture has replaced genuine play, turning casino aesthetics into pure sensation.
Mario von Rickenbach just wants you to play nice with others
Swiss designer Mario von Rickenbach discusses Rakete, his one-day cooperative rocket game, and how architectural thinking shapes his approach to physics.
What Gaming Tells Us About AI Companionship
Gaming has long faced the same moral panics now surrounding AI companions. MJ Cocking's relationship with an AI Donatello reveals the need for "emotional intelligence" to balance multiple realities.
Why Risa Puno's Games Ask You to Be Vulnerable in Public
Artist Risa Puno transforms familiar games into intimate spaces for emotional processing, stripping away fantasy to confront feelings directly.
Sahej Rahal's AI Instruments and Cooperative Creatures
What happens when artificial intelligence becomes a site for reimagining collective consciousness? Sahej Rahal creates speculative creatures and AI simulations that challenge Western notions of individual consciousness while drawing from centuries-old Indian philosophical traditions.
Kevin Peter He's Embodied Game Engine Performance
He is part of a group of filmmakers and artists who are transforming the movement of human bodies into something we can watch and ultimately dance alongside.
Everyone Loves the Sunshine
By powering her games with solar energy, Kara Stone isn't just making an environmental statement—she's unlocking new aesthetic possibilities in game design through conscious constraint.
Shakers, machines, & desert Pigs: Vinny Roca's devotional designs
Vinny Roca transforms everyday objects into digital devotional beings through game engines, exploring the intersection of religious labor, industrial processes, and virtual ritual.
Eddo Stern: Experimentation is valuable
Eddo Stern, a pioneering game artist and Founding Director of the UCLA Game Lab, discusses the interplay between art and game design, his ongoing project Vietnam Romance, and the importance of experimentation in his creative practice.
A peek inside UCLA’s Game Lab
The UCLA Game Lab fosters innovation in game design and interactive art, encouraging students to push boundaries and explore new forms of expression through gaming.
Natalie Paneng's quirky and cool virtual universe
Johannesburg-based artist Natalie Paneng blends theater, digital art, and performance to create playful virtual worlds that examine online identity and self-presentation.
Creating in real-time with Dalena Tran
Dalena Tran, a multidisciplinary artist, explores the intersection of film, interactivity, and digital media, pushing the boundaries of perception and expression through innovative techniques and technologies.