Interactive Spanish videogames at Instituto Cervantes
MANILA, Philippines - Video games are no longer just a form of entertainment. The industry, its customers and its technology have immensely progressed in the past three decades. With the entertainment software now becoming as one of the fastest growing industries, video games are interactive artworks now embedded in our daily life.
Instituto Cervantes de Manila presents “Arsgames: Past and Present of the Videogame in Spanish,” an interactive exhibit that features audio-visual samples of the Spanish videogames from the beginning of the cultural and economic activity of the ’80s to the present evolution in more recent years. The exhibit will run from Sept. 14 to 30 while two lectures on Arsgames will take place on Sept. 16, 4 p.m., at Instituto Cervantes’ Salon de Actos.
The lecture, in English, will feature Spanish professor and Arsgames founder Flavio Escribano and Spanish videogame designer Mar Canet. Together, the two will tackle Spanish videogames from several points of view such as the prolific Spanish production of videogames in the ’80s (considered as the Golden Age of the Spanish videogame) to the technological crisis of the ’90s and its recent comeback as one of the main producers of videogames worldwide.
They will also talk about the use of videogames in education, videogames as an expressive medium, and as a powerful tool of communication, which is used by more than 500 million people in the West.
As one of the founders of Arsgames, a site dedicated to the studies and art of videogames, Escribano is constantly uploading content on the web to disseminate the results of his research. He is a PhD candidate at the Universidad Complutense in Madrid and has been invited as a speaker in various seminars and workshops around Spain.
Canet, on the other hand, is a videogame computer engineer and designer. After two years as a scholar at the Escuela Superior de Diseño, he expanded his studies to the field of game design at the University of Central Lancashire in England. He is currently a resident artist in Hangar.
On Sept. 16, listen to these experts as they discuss the present and the future of the thriving videogame industry. Interested participants can also play Spanish videogames at Instituto Cervantes’ interactive exhibit which will feature game demos, expert reviews, previews and walkthroughs.
“Arsgames: Past and Present of the Videogame in Spanish” is organized by Instituto Cervantes de Manila in collaboration with the Spanish Embassy in the Philippines and the Spanish Agency International Cooperation for Development (AECID).
Admission to this event is free. The interactive exhibit will run from Sept. 14 to 30. For information, call 526-1482 or visit http://manila.cervantes.es Instituto Cervantes de Manila is at 855 T.M. Kalaw St., Ermita, Manila.
