Model worlds – Pictures by Matthias Zimmermann

Special exhibition

With our exhibition »Modell-Welten (Model worlds) – Pictures by Matthias Zimmermann« the Computer Games Museum approaches this discussion from the opposite direction. This inversion does not address the issue of their purported cultural value, but it investigates of how the theme of computer games can be expressed by pictorial means instead.
„Matthias Zimmermann pictures deal directly with the question of the influence of computer games in the field of the visual arts. So our special exhibition presents an artist who works in this field of exploration.“ says Andreas Lange, director of the Computer Games Museum. „These large paintings show landscapes reminiscent of video games and they tackle the issue of the representation of space in a number of ways.“

But questions relating to the nature of digital space and virtuality are not only raised on the thematic plane. The very production of Zimmermann’s pictures functions like an interface in combining analogue and digital techniques of work. The artist calls his landscape „model worlds“: their point of departure are impressions gained from our world, which he then translates into a artistic language. By means of this register, which is comparable to a construction kit, he can he can assemble and explore them on the canvas in a playful mode. So this conceptual process of experimentation will finally yield fantastic and model-like landscapes endowed with an aura reminding us of »independent games«.
In order to present his paintings Matthias Zimmermann has been commissioned to decorate and re-create the exhibition space like a picture itself: the room has been converted into a digital universe consisting of pixelated stars, in the midst ofwhich his modelled worlds appear to be floating.

replay history

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distURBANces – Can Fiction Beat Reality?

Thibault Brunet

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Cosplay

Photographs from Joerg Pitschmann

Aug 28th - Jan 15th, 2013

Replay History

Hommage an die Komputing-Revolution

"Street Fighter II '

an artistic approach by Stefan Schwarzer

From November 9th to December 12th, 2011 the Computer Games Museum in Berlin will be showing Streetfighter II by Stefan Schwarzer in a special exhibition. It is an artistic approximation towards what has become one of the most influential computer games in the history of the genre. Created by Akira Nishitani and Akira Yasuda and released by the Japanese firm Capcom as an automat in 1991, it soon became very popular all over the world and it furthermore turned out to be an innovator in the field of the fighting games. For the first time the players were enabled to select one from a range of different fighting techniques available through pressing particular combinations of keys. Moreover Streetfighter II offered a selection of sophisticated different characters with individual traits and competences. Since then the game has not only seen countless sequels and imitations, but also quite a few cinematic adaptations testify to its immense popularity. Thanks to its violent content the game was also the focus of heated discussions in Germany.
The level of its popularity that has not subsided for two decades as well as the controversies triggered off by it have inspired Stefan Schwarzer, a painter based in Leipzig, to attempt an artistic exploration from a variety of perspectives. One of his sources for orientation in the Street Fighter-Universe was the plenitude of works created by fans available on the internet. Thus he decided on a corresponding range of different techniques including drawings as well as flip-books allowing for unusual points of view.
“In terms of its contents I think the emphasis of my interaction with Street Fighter II was an exploration of the games’ symbolic dimension with relation to reality and an analysis of fight and fighting as metaphors. In my interpretation I see the game to represent the struggle in our society for scarce resources like attention, love and a meaningful existence.”
Andreas Lange, Director of the Computer Games Museum sees the strength of Schwarzer’s work in transcending narrow contexts: “I think Stefan Schwarzer brings an analytical perspective towards the huge potential released by computer games way beyond the actual playing experience. We can observe that these games very often function as focal points stimulating impressive works by fans which have high quality and deserve public exposure. And thus we can see that the possibility for participation created by the games leaves the realm of just playing them and feeds back into wider social contexts.”

Stefan Schwarzer himself belongs the generation that grew up with Street Fighter. He is currently a student of painting and graphics at the University of Art and Design in Halle and has already presented his work in a number of exhibitions (e.g. a solo exhibition „S.Y.R.U.“ Koloni Dresden, 2008).

Stefan Schwarzer „Street Fighter II“
9.11. - 12.12.2011
Vernissage: 9.11.2011, 6 pm.
Computerspielemuseum / Computer Games Museum
Karl-Marx-Allee 93A
10243 Berlin