James Taylor-Foster
Selected writing 2015 – 2022
  • About
  • Category
  • Title
  • Publication
  • Year
  • Curatorial
  • The Craft of Swedish Videogame Design
  • 2019
James Taylor-Foster
editor & writer of essays & reviews,
architectural designer,
maker of exhibitions
Selected writing 2015 – 2022
  • The Craft of Swedish Videogame Design

Videogames are everywhere. We play them on desktop screens, on devices that we hold in our hands, in our homes, on the bus, together and alone. We play with people we might never have met, who might not share our language, and whose experience of the world might be very different from our own. Behind the screens, however, is a diverse and sophisticated creative process.

Bridging technology and imagination with artistry and craft, the artists, designers and developers making videogames are building alternate worlds. The broad array of visual styles that contribute to the field attests to the complex and collaborative creativity that videogame design demands.


Fig 1. ‘Yarny’ from Unravel by Martin Sahlin (Viktoria Garvare, 2019)

Studios often share common points of origin. Hand-made pencil sketches and models blend with digital animation and code to imagine worlds that entertain, puzzle, and immerse us. Characters are sculpted, narratives are scripted, and the end result—the games themselves—range from the playful to the cinematic.


Fig 2. Work by Emma Richey of Might and Delight for Shelter 3 (Viktoria Garvare, 2019)

Videogames and the culture that surrounds them connect, affect, and inspire us. The analogue material behind a game, however, is often buried or forgotten. This exhibition elevates a group of creatives—Emma Richey (Might and Delight), Martin Sahlin (Coldwood Interactive), Pontus Ullbors (Landfall Games), Zeke Virant (Avalanche Studios), and Linnéa Östedt Harrison (Neat Corporation)—to reveal the visual craft behind one of Sweden’s most important artistic fields.

Emma Richey
Might and Delight

Martin Sahlin
Coldwood Interactive

Linnéa Östedt Harrison
Neat Corporation

Zeke Virant
Avalanche Studios



Participants Avalanche Studios with Zeke Virant; Coldwood Interactive with Martin Sahlin; Landfall Games with Pontus Ullbors; Might and Delight with Emma Richey; Neat Corporation with Linnéa Östedt Harrison Initiators Caroline Agné (verksamhetchef, Illustratörcentrum), Josefine Engström (f.d. ordförande, Illustratörcentrum) Co-Curator Sofia Östlund Film Production Karin Ekberg with Patrik Forsell, Claes Hedberg, Isak Lundberg, Edvard Stokstad Graphics Studio Reko Light Design El & Scenteknik Installation Stefan Mossfeldt Installation Photography Viktoria Garvare
A collaboration between Illustratörcentrum and ArkDes with support from Stockholm stad and Region Stockholm.
July 05 — August 25, 2019
Boxen,
ArkDes
December 07 2019 — March 01, 2020
Form/Design Center (Malmö, Sweden)
September 25 — December 19, 2021
Yarny, Medusa und ein Elefant: Das Handwerk schwedischer Computerspiele
The Nordic Embassies (Berlin, Germany)

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James Taylor-Foster
editor & writer of essays & reviews,
architectural designer,
maker of exhibitions
  • CuratorialI.
  • ProjectsII.
  • PublicationsIII.
  • SpeakingIV.
  • WritingV.
I.Curatorial
  • ✶ WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD, London2022
  • ✶ Mira Bergh × Josefin Zachrisson: Utomhusverket2022
  • ✶ The Limits of Our World: LARP and Design2022
  • ✶ Solicited: Proposals2021
  • ✶ Studio Ossidiana: Utomhusverket2021
  • WEIRD SENSATION FEELS GOOD, Stockholm2020
  • Architecture Projects: Skeppsbron + Brunnsparken2019
  • Cruising Pavilion: Architecture, Gay Sex, Cruising Culture2019
  • The Craft of Swedish Videogame Design2019
  • Petra Gipp and Mikael Olsson; Sigurd Lewerentz – Freestanding2018
  • Space Popular: Value in the Virtual2018
  • You Are Not Alone2017
  • In Therapy2016
  • Keeping Up Appearances2015
II.Projects
  • ASMR, An Exhibition Trailer2022
  • Watch & Chill 2.0: Streaming Senses2022
  • ASMRology2021
  • Plug-in Poesi2020
  • ✶ Interdependence: Stockholm and pandemia2020
  • Future Architecture Rooms2020
  • SOFT GOSSIP2020
  • Mukbang Veneziano2020
  • Körper2019
  • Architecture on Display2018
  • Boxen at ArkDes2018
  • The Stones of Venice: A Kimono2017
  • Misunderstandings (A Reliquary)2016
III.Publications
  • ✶ softspot2021
  • Living on Water2017
  • Elemental Living2016
  • People, Place, Purpose2015
IV.Speaking
  • ✶ Scaffold #612022
  • Salons, The New Architecture School2022
  • ✶ Protagonist of the Erotic: A Bed2022
  • OAT Academy, Curating Architecture2022
  • ✶ Protagonist of the Erotic: An Island2021
  • A Future for Exhibitions2021
  • Future Architecture CEx2020 Focus Talks2020
  • Modevisningar är den flyktigaste formen av arkitektur2018
  • Exhibition Models2017
V.Writing
  • Studio Ossidiana on the Sentimental Scale of the City2022
  • Wang & Söderström: Royal Chambers2022
  • A Strange Sort of Weight2021
  • What’s Mine Is Theirs: an interview with Max Lamb2020
  • ✶ Screen Glow Sedation2020
  • No Time to Stand and Stare2020
  • On Norra Tornen2020
  • ✶ Don’t Fear a Snowflake2020
  • In Riga, A Conference On Architecture and Migration2019
  • On Practical Futurology2019
  • Foreword: On the Manifesto2019
  • Making Believe with Charlap Hyman & Herrero2019
  • ✶ To Speak As If In Capital Letters2019
  • Baltoscandia: A Complex Utopia2018
  • ✶ Virgil Abloh, Editor in Brief2018
  • A Weak Monument2018
  • Sigurd Lewerentz: Villa Edstrand2018
  • On the Cruising Pavilion2018
  • A Diary of Virgil Abloh’s First Louis Vuitton Show2018
  • ✶ The Boat is Leaking. The Captain Lied.2018
  • Concrete Mountain2017
  • ✶ On Liquid Modernity2017
  • ✶ #003399, #FFCC00; The Meaning of a Flag2017
  • Pillars of Society: “Jantelagen”2017
  • Exhibiting the Postmodern2017
  • Future Architecture and the Idea of Europe2017
  • Domains of Influence2017
  • Ingress: Black Rock City2017
  • In Dialogue With Gravity2017
  • Rem, Redacted2016
  • Media States, Or The State of Media2016
  • A Piece of England to Call One’s Own2016
  • Upon This Rock (I Will Build My Church)2016
  • The Design of the Species2016
  • Venice Isn’t Sinking, It’s Flooding2016
James Taylor-Foster
editor & writer of essays & reviews,
architectural designer,
maker of exhibitions
Selected writing 2015 – 2022
Curatorial
  • The Craft of Swedish Videogame Design 2019
  • in Boxen (ArkDes) with Avalanche Studios, Coldwood Interactive, Landfall Games, Might and Delight, Neat Corporation
Back

Videogames are everywhere. We play them on desktop screens, on devices that we hold in our hands, in our homes, on the bus, together and alone. We play with people we might never have met, who might not share our language, and whose experience of the world might be very different from our own. Behind the screens, however, is a diverse and sophisticated creative process.

Bridging technology and imagination with artistry and craft, the artists, designers and developers making videogames are building alternate worlds. The broad array of visual styles that contribute to the field attests to the complex and collaborative creativity that videogame design demands.


Fig 1. ‘Yarny’ from Unravel by Martin Sahlin (Viktoria Garvare, 2019)

Studios often share common points of origin. Hand-made pencil sketches and models blend with digital animation and code to imagine worlds that entertain, puzzle, and immerse us. Characters are sculpted, narratives are scripted, and the end result—the games themselves—range from the playful to the cinematic.


Fig 2. Work by Emma Richey of Might and Delight for Shelter 3 (Viktoria Garvare, 2019)

Videogames and the culture that surrounds them connect, affect, and inspire us. The analogue material behind a game, however, is often buried or forgotten. This exhibition elevates a group of creatives—Emma Richey (Might and Delight), Martin Sahlin (Coldwood Interactive), Pontus Ullbors (Landfall Games), Zeke Virant (Avalanche Studios), and Linnéa Östedt Harrison (Neat Corporation)—to reveal the visual craft behind one of Sweden’s most important artistic fields.

Emma Richey
Might and Delight

Martin Sahlin
Coldwood Interactive

Linnéa Östedt Harrison
Neat Corporation

Zeke Virant
Avalanche Studios



Participants Avalanche Studios with Zeke Virant; Coldwood Interactive with Martin Sahlin; Landfall Games with Pontus Ullbors; Might and Delight with Emma Richey; Neat Corporation with Linnéa Östedt Harrison Initiators Caroline Agné (verksamhetchef, Illustratörcentrum), Josefine Engström (f.d. ordförande, Illustratörcentrum) Co-Curator Sofia Östlund Film Production Karin Ekberg with Patrik Forsell, Claes Hedberg, Isak Lundberg, Edvard Stokstad Graphics Studio Reko Light Design El & Scenteknik Installation Stefan Mossfeldt Installation Photography Viktoria Garvare
A collaboration between Illustratörcentrum and ArkDes with support from Stockholm stad and Region Stockholm.
July 05 — August 25, 2019
Boxen,
ArkDes
December 07 2019 — March 01, 2020
Form/Design Center (Malmö, Sweden)
September 25 — December 19, 2021
Yarny, Medusa und ein Elefant: Das Handwerk schwedischer Computerspiele
The Nordic Embassies (Berlin, Germany)

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