{"id":9152,"date":"2020-10-29T02:00:02","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T02:00:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.saic.edu\/cate\/?p=9152"},"modified":"2025-02-23T22:17:41","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T04:17:41","slug":"auriea-harvey-and-michael-samyn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.saic.edu\/cate\/2020\/10\/29\/auriea-harvey-and-michael-samyn\/","title":{"rendered":"Auriea Harvey and Micha\u00ebl Samyn"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Thursday, October 29, 2:00 p.m.<\/strong><\/em>
\n<\/span>Gene Siskel Film Center Virtual Cinema<\/p>\n

\nLive captions available<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n

Join us for this discussion with net art pioneers and game developers Auriea Harvey and Micha\u00ebl Samyn (Tale of Tales), moderated by University of Chicago English and Cinema and Media Studies professor and Weston Game Lab Director\u00a0Patrick Jagoda.\u00a0Audiences are invited to join the artists in the free online multiplayer game\u00a0The Endless Forest<\/em> for a portion of this special event.<\/p>\n

Presented in partnership with the University of Chicago\u2019s Weston Game Lab and Hack Arts Lab.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

If you’d like to play in\u00a0<\/em>The Endless Forest\u00a0during the event, please\u00a0download the game in advance. Instructions below.<\/em><\/p>\n

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Auriea Harvey and Michae\u0308l Samyn, The Endless Forest, 2005-ongoing. Courtesy of the artists.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Since 1999, pioneering digital artists Auriea Harvey and Micha\u00ebl Samyn have created a body of enormously influential games and internet art. Best known for works like\u00a0The Endless Forest<\/em>\u00a0(2005\/2020),\u00a0The Path<\/em>\u00a0(2009),\u00a0The Graveyard<\/em>\u00a0(2008),\u00a0Luxuria Superbia<\/em>\u00a0(2013), and\u00a0Sunset<\/em>\u00a0(2015), among others, Harvey and Samyn\u2019s sensuous, multi-layered games, all produced under the name Tale of Tales, explore complex themes of agency, trauma, and connection, often through the avatars of women, girls, and people of color. The two began their joint career producing vanguard internet and networked art as Entropy8Zuper! In recent years, they have turned to mixed reality and immersive software under the moniker Song of Songs. With their immersive and responsive environments, Harvey and Samyn aim to produce emotionally rich experiences unique to the digital realm.<\/p>\n

Harvey and Samyn have released eight video game titles, all available to the public through major game portals. In addition to being experienced by thousands on home computers around the globe, their digital art works have been included in significant international festivals and exhibitions such as the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art, Moscow; Tinguely Museum, Basel; Victoria & Albert Museum, London; Museum of the Moving Image, New York; Brooklyn Academy of Music; Museo Tamayo, Mexico City; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; Furtherfield, London; NEoN Digital Art Festival, Dundee; International Film Festival Rotterdam; Argos Festival, Brussels; and numerous editions of IndieCade; among many others. They have received numerous awards for their work, including a Nuovo award from the Independent Game Festival for Luxuria Superbia; design and sound awards from hoPLAY International Video Game Festival for The Path; and a Webby for their early site Entropy8Zuper!.org, among others. In addition to her collaborative partnership with Samyn, Harvey is professor of Games as Artistic Practice at Kunsthochschule Kassel.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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—<\/p>\n

RELATED MEDIA<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The Endless Forest<\/strong>, Auriea Harvey and Michael Samyn, 2005-ongoing<\/p>\n

Auriea Harvey and Micha\u00ebl Samyn\u2019s first finished game,\u00a0The Endless Forest<\/em>\u00a0(2005-ongoing) is an online multiplayer game where players interact as human-deer hybrids in an enchanted forest. Stunning in its visuals and radical in its design, the game eschews formal gameplay, story, and language; instead emphasizing curiosity, exploration, and creative sociability. It originated as a screensaver\u2013\u2013when a player\u2019s computer goes to sleep, it logs into the Forest, appearing in the game world as a sleeping deer. In the years since its 2005 release,\u00a0The Endless Forest<\/em> has amassed an enormous following and become an influential touchstone for game developers, including, most notably, for Jenova Chen and Thatgamecompany\u2019s Journey<\/em>\u00a0<\/em>(2015). Harvey and Samyn are relaunching\u00a0The Endless Forest<\/em>, rebuilt with contemporary technology, in 2021.<\/p>\n

Installation instructions<\/strong><\/p>\n

System Requirements:<\/em><\/p>\n