Colourful lettering that says GAIA

Game Arts International Assembly

The Game Arts International Assembly (GAIA) is an international think tank and network for the professional development of the game arts community: aimed at curators, producers, event organizers and academics working in the field of videogame culture.

Current edition

The third Game Arts International Assembly happened June 5-7th, 2023 in Toronto, Canada (in conjunction with Toronto Games Week). With a participant cap of 20, GAIA is an intimate symposium for game art curators and game community organizers to level up their professional development and connect with their international peers. In addition to on site talks sharing personal experiences, playful workshops, and practical sessions, GAIA will include field trips to different locations in the city. Some photo documentation is available here.

View attendee bios

Program

Day 1 Day 2 Day 3

Day 1: Monday, June 5th

FOUNDATIONS

Location: OCAD game:play Lab (230 Richmond St. W, 3rd Floor)

Coffee & Covid (15 min)

10:00 - 10:15
Time to get a coffee, meet and greet and COVID testing.

General Session

Opening Icebreaker (30 min)

10:15 - 10:45
Emily Koonce
We play several folk games to get to know each other better and put ourselves in an active and creative mood.

General Session

Admin Time (15 min)

10:50 - 11:05
Jim Munroe + Marie LeBlanc Flanagan
We outline the general schedule + rules + share code of conduct.

General Session

The Scene Report (50 min)

11:10 - 12:00
Jo Summers + Allison Yang
What's going on in the global game art scene? We’ll each share our local events, as well as identify our global blind-spots.

Thematic Session

Lunch Break + Afternoon Walk (120min)

12:00 - 14:00
Explore Chinatown and Kensington Market!

Thematic Session

Curatorial Practice (50 min)

14:10 - 15:00
Pietro Righi-Riva + Jonathan Kinkley
Reviewing case studies of game exhibitions both IRL and digital, and workshopping solutions for various curatorial challenges.

Thematic Session

Break (10 min)

15:00 - 15:10

General Session

New Structures (50 min)

15:15 - 16:00
Susie Buchan + Pablo Quarta
How do we want to work together with our collaborators, peers, volunteers, or employees? We share our experiences and learnings, and dream up new formats.

Thematic Session

Break (10 min)

16:00 - 16:10

General Session

Group Round Up (30min)

16:20 - 16:40
Shalev Moran
Looking back at today's highlights + Reminder of tomorrow's schedule. (Confirmation of outdoor location dependent on weather.)

Thematic Session

Comic Launch: “If You Don't Like The Game, Change The Rules”

18:30
Marie LeBlanc Flanagan
A comic launch exploring alternative labor modes like co-ops and unions, including a panel discussion with co-op studio workers and union organizers.

Location: Palmerston Public Library Theatre

Special Activity Field Trip

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Day 2: Tuesday, June 6th

BREAK OUT!

Location: Toronto Island

Arrival Coffee (15min)

9:30 - 10:00
Time to get a coffee at the Jack Layton ferry terminal, meet and greet.

General Session

Daily Icebreaker (20 min)

10:15 - 10:35
Someone (maybe you!) will be a-breaking that ice.

General Session

Admin Time (15 min)

10:40 - 10:50
Jim Munroe + Marie LeBlanc Flanagan
We outline today’s schedule + general event updates.

General Session

Games in Public Spaces (50m)

10:50 - 11:40
Lan Roed + Matt Parker + Artūras Rumiancevas
What are public spaces, who can access them and how, and who can safely subvert them? We will explore these topics through organizing a public game together.

Thematic Session

Lunch Break + Afternoon Walk (120min)

11:45 - 14:00

General Session

Dream Big! (50min)

14:00 - 14:50
Marie LeBlanc Flanagan + NPCKC
What kinds of curation, events, or gatherings would you host with unlimited resources? Is there anything you've been dreaming of making but are stuck on?

Thematic Session

Break (10mins)

14:50 - 15:00

General Session

The Magic Square (50min)

15:00- 15:50
Emily Koonce + Paloma Rendon Dawkins
We conjure our experiences and disciplines OUTSIDE of games and / or curation, and work through them to inspire ourselves and each other.

Thematic Session

Break (10mins)

15:50 - 16:00

General Session

Group Round Up

16:00 - 16:20
Shalev Moran
Looking back at today's highlights + reminder of tomorrow's schedule.

Thematic Session

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Day 3: Wednesday, June 7th

LOOKING AHEAD

Location: OCAD game:play Lab (230 Richmond St. W, 3rd Floor)

Arrival Coffee (15min)

10:00 - 10:15
Time to get a coffee, meet and greet.

General Session

Daily Icebreaker (20 min)

10:15 - 10:35
Someone (maybe you!) will be a-breaking that ice.

General Session

Admin Time (10 min)

10:40 - 10:50
Jim Munroe + Marie LeBlanc Flanagan
We outline today’s schedule + general event updates.

General Session

GAIA 2023 Project (50min)

10:50 - 11:40
Shalev Moran
GAIA itself wishes to be just one highlight in a longer and continuous engagement between game curators and cultural activists around the world. One major way to keep the conversation going and foster productive connections are the yearly projects. In this session we will form up to 3 work groups, for 3 connected projects: Game Arts Curators Kit (GACK), the Mentorship Network, and the Curator Club.

Thematic Session

Break (10mins)

11:40 - 11:50

General Session

Connecting the Dots (50min)

11:50 - 12:40
Angelo Careri + Lynn Hughes
Dedicated networking activity focused on considering possible synergies between participants, as well as possible future collaborations - big or small.

Thematic Session

Tour of the AGO + Lunch (120 min)

12:40 - 14:40
Jim Munroe
A visit to one of Canada's most prominent art museums: the Art Gallery of Ontario. Over lunch we’ll have an informal conversation with AGO’s Paola Poletto and Nathan Huisman, and tour the site of a previous game art exhibition - the Fancy Videogame Party.

Location: Art Gallery of Ontario

Special Activity Field Trip

What Is Your Biggest Challenge? (50min)

15:00 - 15:50
Chaz Evans + Allison Yang
Sharing our biggest challenges is an act of vulnerability and bravery, but it can lead to strategy generation, allyship, and the comfort of camaraderie. We're going to have "patients" explain their curation and organizing troubles to a pair of "doctors" and have them prescribe some possible treatments.

Thematic Session

Break (10 min)

15:50 - 16:00

General Session

Group Round Up (20min)

16:00 - 16:20
Shalev Moran
Looking back at today's highlights + a look forward to the next GAIA.

Thematic Session

IO Connect / Toronto Games Week Closing party

18:30 - 23:00am
Marie LeBlanc Flanagan
Enjoy food and drink and mingle with Ontario game creators at The TGW closing party. Featuring games from TOJam 2023, Ontario Indies, and the launch of Endlight.

Location: Interactive Ontario

Special Activity Field Trip

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Programmers

Lu smiling

María Luján Oulton is a games curator, cultural producer and lecturer with a Master Degree in Communication and Cultural Creation by Walter Benjamin Foundation. Luján is co-founder of the cultural producer Objeto a, focused on art and technology. Among diverse exhibitions and new media art projects she created and produced Game on! El arte en juego an artgames and playful media exhibit that ran in Argentina for over a decade. In 2019 she co-founded GAIA (Game Arts International Assembly) with Jim Munroe (Canada) Lujan is also co-editor of the Game Studies Journal at Universidad de Palermo (Argentina), member of the GameStudies group at IIEAC (Instituto de Investigación y Experimentación en Arte y Crítica) and cofounder of Women in Games Argentina.

Marie howling on the coast of california

Marie LeBlanc Flanagan is an artist working in the playful spaces between people, especially related to connection and community. Marie builds experimental video games, playful installations, and cooperative experiences. Marie has an enduring fondness for the infinite possibilities of trash. Marie founded Wyrd Arts Initiatives (a nationwide nonprofit dedicated to encouraging, documenting, and connecting creative expression across Canada), A Kind of Play (workshops on making experimental games), Drone Day (an annual international celebration of drone music communities) and co-founded Imaginary Residency (an artist-run online residency).

Jim looking serious

Jim Munroe is a “pop culture provocateur” according to the Austin Chronicle. His graphic novels and prose novels have been praised by Pulitzer-winner Junot Diaz and comics legend Neil Gaiman, and his lo-fi sci-fi feature films by Wired and the Guardian. His political videogames have appeared at Sundance and Cannes, and he co-founded the world’s first videogame arts organization. He was an Art Gallery of Ontario Artist-in-Residence in 2014 and he lives in the Junction neighbourhood in Toronto. He now runs the Game Arts International Network, a not-for-profit that interconnects international game arts curators, festival organizers and other game community organizers.

Shalev looking serious

Shalev Moran is a designer and artist based in Copenhagen. He currently works as a game designer and director at Bird Island, and co-runs the political-sci-fi project Speculative Tourism. Previously he was the games curator at Print Screen Festival, a lecturer at Shenkar College’s Game Center, and a game designer at various companies. He received his B.A. from TAU's Honors Program in the Humanities and Arts, and his M.A. in Game Design from The Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts. 

Partners

We acknowledge the support of the Canada Council for the Arts.

CONTACT

We'd love to hear from you. Please send us an email.