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.
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.
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