Crisis and Games - A Talk by Mer Grazzini

Abstract

Culture is always indivisible from the socio-political and economic reality of the people that live in it. Art mirrors reality and becomes a way of transforming it. A crash course into the Argentinian game scene and how a bunch of kids who couldn’t pay for imported games grew up to build a blooming industry. A fluctuating economy that swims from crisis to crisis and how that shapes a culture. The influence of dictatorships in our way of making art. How we grew up with no access to legit games, and the importance of piracy to be able to play. The feeling that things are never gonna happen here if we don’t make them ourselves - a self-managed art industry. The defence of our local identity as cultural resistance, and some examples of the influence of other art forms in games. The democratisation of technology and the success of having the State supporting games with public universities and grants.