PsXXYborg is an example of arts-led research and glitch/installation game art, the result of funding and support offered by FiG (Feminists in Games) and the OCADu game:play lab. The content, both visually and conceptually engage with glitch as both a symptom of the imperfection of systems and a signal of potential rifts and further breakage. The project toured an individual player through a slow separation from their consciousness and into a purely digital reality using a dual screen FMV interaction. Videos were produced by Hannah Epstein and Sagan Yee, technology by Alex Leitch. This panel addresses some of the fragility of digital work, the visual correlation between feminism and “the glitch” and the places where glitch helped to communicate the main ideas of the work.
About the presenters
Hannah Epstein (AKA hanski) is a folk media artist working in the cross-section of experimental games and visual art. Of mixed Latvian and Ashkenazi-Jewish heritage, Epstein draws on her liminal identity to drive a psychedelic and collage aesthetic and will often use play and games to create bottom-up storytelling experiences. She is currently an MFA candidate at Carnegie Mellon.
Sagan Yee is a Toronto-based animator and occasional indie game perpetrator. She has participated in numerous panel discussions on animation and games, collaborated on several bizarre interactive projects (one of which ended with the cops showing up), and organized workshops promoting digital media outreach and literacy. Currently Sagan is Executive Director of the Hand Eye Society and community member of Dames Making Games.
Alex Leitch is a software developer and creative technologist working in Toronto. Alex speaks publicly on the intersections of art and technology, and is interested in privacy and artistic expression using contemporary technology. Alex is a co-founder of Site 3 coLaboratory and a founding director of Dames Making Games.