Authors:
Ieva Gintere
1
;
Emmanouel Rovithis
2
;
Ágnes Bakk
3
and
Alvis Misjuns
1
Affiliations:
1
Vidzeme University of Applied Sciences, Tērbatas street 10, Valmiera, Latvia
;
2
Ionian University, Plateia Tsirigoti 7, Corfu, Athens, Greece
;
3
Moholy-Nagy University of Art and Design, Hungary, Zugligeti út 9, Budapest, Hungary
Keyword(s):
Immersiveness, New Media Art, Serious Games, Ecosystems, Meditation.
Abstract:
The study describes a creative virtual environment named ImGame which serves as an interactive platform hosting recent works by new media artists in Latvia, Greece, and Hungary. The study explores the common conceptual characteristics of these works as interpreted by the ImGame researchers. The artworks have been categorized under two intertwined aspects, namely meditation and ecosystems. The terms are slightly different in each country: the Latvian artworks demonstrate a meditative state of mind linked to reflection about ecology that also encompasses purity of mind. The Greek works highlight the organicity and interconnectedness of elements that form alternate ecosystems which can be seen as ways to escape previous thought patterns. For unpredictable realities to be plausible there is a need for a contemplative mind set before the change of perspective. The human role is reimagined as a set of data-driven variables participating in the dialogue between old and new, physical and dig
ital, natural and artificial. In Hungary, artworks often deal with data gathering techniques and their visualization. They are simulated ecosystems, where the viewer is part of that system and can contemplate and submerge in it with the aim of raising the participant’s level of sensitization towards social issues or phenomena.
(More)