Yewen Liu

MMF MMXXIV: GAME VIDEO ESSAY

Image by Dall-e 3

The Milan Machinima Festival MMXXIV is excited to unveil the 2024 Game Video Essay series, featuring a curated selection of international machinima that boldly departs from traditional narrative structures. Join us on Thursday, March 14, at Sala dei 146, IULM 6, for screenings of four groundbreaking works that push the boundaries of the documentary form, including two insightful presentations by the creators themselves.

Game video essay

March 14 2024, 14:00 - 17:00

Sala dei 146

IULM 6, IULM University

Via Carlo Bo 7, 20143 Milano

curated by Matteo Bittanti

Artists and filmmakers: Cat Bluemke and Jonathan Carroll, Guilhem Causse, Ekiem Barbier, and Quentin L'helgoualc’h, Gina Hara, Yemen Liu.

Introduced in 2019, Game Video Essay showcases innovative machinima that transcends traditional narrative structures to explore a wide range of topics, from cultural and philosophical to environmental and abstract, using video games as an expressive canvas. These works diverge from conventional storytelling in machinima, instead offering a rich analysis and commentary on diverse issues through the unique perspective of video games. By repurposing game visuals and mechanics, these essays invite viewers to engage deeply with subjects that challenge and expand the dialogue beyond gaming into a broader cultural and societal context.

The Milan Machinima Festival is proud to present these game video essays as a testament to the evolving potential of games and video essays alike, fostering a deeper appreciation for this dynamic form of expression. The featured works in this year’s program explore themes of environmental change, artificial intelligence, virtual identity, and the role of machinima in contemporary art.

Yewen Liu’s Irreversible documents Greenpeace Poland’s innovative project to recreate the Bialowieża Primeval Forest within the virtual world of Minecraft. The forest, which has faced numerous challenges such as deforestation and ecological shifts, serves as a poignant symbol of the ongoing struggle against irreversible environmental changes. Liu’s machinima captures this virtual reforestation effort, juxtaposing it against the backdrop of the forest’s real-world struggles.

In Crowd Control, Canadian artists Cat Bluemke and Jonathan Carroll examine the intersection of crowd simulation technology and the growing surveillance industry, focusing on the representation of the French Revolutionary mob in Assassin’s Creed Unity. By reflecting on depictions of crowds in art history and contemporary video game crowd simulations, the work questions how these technologies might shape the future of collective action and social unrest in an era of artificial intelligence.

Guilhem Causse, Ekiem Barbier, and Quentin L’helgoualc’h’s full-length documentary Knit’s Island delves into the online game DayZ, exploring a 250 square km virtual space where players enact a survivalist fiction. Using avatars, the filmmakers interact with the game’s community, blending in-game experiences with personal stories. The film investigates the dawn of virtual life integration and its implications for our world, offering insights into online interactions, virtual friendships, and the boundaries between digital and real-life identities.

Gina Hara’s MachinimaBodiesSpaceRhythm is a pioneering episodic series that showcases the voices of women and non-binary creators within the machinima sphere. Situated at the intersection of video games, cinema, and digital art, the series illuminates machinima’s unique, hybrid nature. Hara not only highlights machinima’s artistic potential but also prompts reflection on digital identities and the medium’s role in contemporary art.

These four works demonstrate the power of game video essays to explore complex themes and ideas, leveraging the unique affordances of video games to create compelling and thought-provoking experiences. By blurring the lines between gaming, cinema, and digital art, these essays challenge our understanding of what is possible within the machinima medium and invite us to consider the profound ways in which video games can shape our perceptions of the world around us.

As we navigate an increasingly digital landscape, the Game Video Essay platform serves as a vital platform for artists and filmmakers to interrogate the role of technology in our lives and to imagine new possibilities for creative expression. Through their innovative use of video game engines and their willingness to push the boundaries of traditional storytelling, these creators are charting new territories in the world of machinima and beyond.

Read more about the 7th edition of the Milan Machinima Festival

MMF MMXXIV: YEWEN LIU

The Milan Machinima Festival is excited to unveil a new machinima by Yewen Liu in a special program titled Game Video Essay. Join us for an exclusive screening on March 14 2024.

The Bialowieża Primeval Forest stands as a remarkable testament to the enduring majesty of temperate Europe’s natural landscapes, hosting an array of distinct ecological communities that have largely remained untouched. Commencing in the 1920s, the forest’s exploitation for economic purposes marked the beginning of significant changes to its pristine condition. In the aftermath of World War II, a mere 600 square kilometers of the original 1,500 square kilometers remained within Polish borders, with the remainder extending into Belarus. Presently, this forest confronts numerous challenges, including deforestation, ecological migratory shifts, displacement of local populations, and a noticeable decline in wildlife populations. In a novel initiative by Greenpeace Poland in 2018, GeoBoxers, a Danish company founded by Simon Lyngby Kokkendorff, Thorbjørn Nielsen and Nynne Sole Dalå,embarked on a project to digitally recreate Bialowieża within the virtual world of Minecraft. This endeavor aimed at virtual reforestation serves as a poignant symbol of hope and awareness, juxtaposed against the backdrop of the forest’s ongoing real-world struggles against irreversible environmental changes. The artist documented such an effort through the medium of machinima. World premiere.  

Yewen Liu, born in 1995, in China is a media artist whose work spans video art, digital installations, and computer games. With a keen focus on interrogating the role of digital media in contemporary storytelling, Liu reinterprets collective memories through her innovative artistic lens. Her exploration extends to themes such as gamification, geopolitics, and the broad societal and environmental implications of digitalization. Liu’s art is a conduit for sparking insightful contemplation on digital culture and its influence on our shared narrative. Through her diverse body of work, she invites audiences to engage with and reflect upon the intricate ways digital technologies, including games, shape and redefine our perceptions of the world.

Read more about the 7th edition of the Milan Machinima Festival