GameCulture
Video and computer games have become an integral part of our everyday culture.The aesthetics of video games are closely linked to contemporary visual and performing arts. [dated August 2010]

Computers have become both a principal tool in our working life and one of our favourite toys. Games are now an integral feature in the daily life of a growing number of people from a broad social spectrum. The market is booming, the games industry has proved resilient to all forms of crisis so far and has, in fact, advanced to the cultural industry with the highest turnover. and the number of those involved in the creation of the associated, increasingly complex digital worlds is also on the rise. Game producers nowadays are clients for artists from a variety of disciplines – graphic designers, script writers, composers and others.

The ever closer link between the world of computer games on the one hand and visual arts, music and film on the other makes the involvement of cultural promotion institutions inevitable. UNESCO has recognised computer and video games as a cultural industry and acknowledged the contribution they make to cultural diversity. In France, Germany and the Nordic states, video games have been on the cultural agenda for a long while already.

Computer games as art form
Similar to television and cinema two or three generations back, computer games are faced with the generic suspicion of being nothing more than trash and a mindless diversion for children and childish adults. Gamers and non-gamers find it hard to understand each other’s attitude. There is a sharp generational divide. Public debate tends to be more emotional than factual, with the focus mostly on addiction and the depiction of violence. Few non-gamers realise that there is a diversity of genres in computer games similar to that of feature films.

Through its GameCulture programme, Pro Helvetia aims to raise public awareness and understanding of the wealth and complexity inherent in this new medium. GameCulture agenda Computer games will be in the spotlight from autumn 2010 to 2012 at three exhibitions and various panel discussions at conferences and festivals.

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