UCLA professor creates video games that redefine art
Eddo Stern straddles the world of fine art and game design
Eddo Stern teaches courses on game design and culture; computer game development; and physical computing in an art context. His work explores the uneasy and otherwise unconscious connections between physical existence and electronic simulation, surrounding the subject matters of violence, memory and identification. He works with various media including computer software & hardware, game design, live performance, digital video, and kinetic sculpture. He is a strong advocate for independent game development, and the inherent potential of game design as a medium for artistic expression and cultural impact. His work has been widely exhibited at international venues and he is a recipient of a Rockefeller Foundation new media fellowship, an emerging fields grant from the Creative Capital Foundation, and a Media Arts stipend from the Edith Russ Foundation.
For UCLA design media arts professor Eddo Stern, video games aren’t “just games.”
They’re platforms to question our assumptions about human relationships, our understanding of violence, even our definition of reality.
“So I just exchanged three texts with someone. Does that constitute knowing them?” Stern asked. Which relationship is stronger? One you have with someone you've never met, but with whom you have spent 700 hours playing a game online? Or one you have with someone you consider a good friend, but with whom you've spent less time?
“Most of my work is focused on real experience versus virtual experience,” Stern said. A lifelong game player, Stern compensated for his “very poor sense of direction” in real life by playing one of his favorite computer games, “Everquest,” as a character with expert tracking abilities.
— Mike Fricano, Jan. 29
Read the full article at the UCLA Newsroom website.