Kill Screen Magazine's Blog, page 350

How the X ended up on game controllers

It’s more than a tic-tac-toe character, or a rock back, or a sign for treasure, or...

Explore a town founded by Peruvian desert witches in Cachiche

Ecstatic truths abound. 

Paper Playscapes is musical chairs with an architectural twist

You can already hear the music.

Japanese "Device Art" exhibition captures playful interactions with hardware

If you had a chance to check MoMA's last design exhibition Talk to Me, you might have noticed several devices such as Sputniko!'s Menstruation Machine which mimics the pain of, well, menstruation. Or Kate Hartman's Talk to Yourself Hat which transmits sounds from one’s mouth directly into one’s ears via a conspicuous, trunk-like tube. Technology can be gloriously strange.

The new "Device Art" exhibition that kicks off at the Ars Electronica Center in Linz, Austria, captures playfully creative design, but from their encounter with ancient Japanese traditions. The Device Art movement emerged ten years ago. Hiroo Iwata, a professor at Tsukuba University in Japan, and one of those who was present at the birth of Device Art, explains its origins:

Device Art evolved from a background of manufacturing traditions and a Japanese aesthetic. In traditional Japanese culture there are crafts in which technology and art meld in an indistinct combination, and it is possible to view Device Art as a new art form for the digital age. Unlike Western art, which is generally viewed in galleries and museums, in Japan artworks have been something to be enjoyed as a part of everyday life. A typical example of this is a tea ceremony room, which abounds with works of art—tea utensils, flower vases, etc.

Some of the pieces that are showing are utterly surreal such as Touchy (above), a wearable device that literally transforms a human being into a functioning camera, and Mr. Knocky  (below) which can play drums without the aid of electricity. There's also Food Simulator (below) which generates force according to the captured force of real food. No doubt there are a wealth of videogame controllers that would fit in with the exhibition. Donkey Kong Bongos, I'm looking at you.

Mind: Path to Thalamus works best when it forgets itself

"All of this sounds pretty cheesy or lame I'm sure. And it is."

Daniel Benmergui on the troubles of telling all the world’s stories

The troubles and trials of telling every story ever.

Flying high on the unfriendly skies of Hohokum

Like stumbling around with a hippie all day. In a good way? 

Here are 3 new games to play this week

Videogames!

Hohokum custom vinyl lights up the sky

Ghostly releases all the tracks online with some custom vinyl to boot.

Exhibition shows what the world looks like to a driverless car

Discovering the physical world through the virtual