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The Overkill 2016
November 25, 2016 - November 27, 2016
From the website http://www.theoverkill.nl/
The Overkill Festival is a 48 hours nonstop gaming and film event. On The Overkill, visitors are confronted with an ‘Overkill’ of popular culture multimedia, with a strong focus on movies, video and gaming. The transcending borders of these media and the corresponding subcultures evolving around them will get a special attention on the festival as well.
The festival is dedicated to underground movies and independent games. We will welcome artists, media philosophers, game designers and filmmakers from the Netherlands and abroad to get an overview of this subculture. The Overkill festival wants to be a place where all kind of gamers, movie lovers and artists can meet, play and think about the possibilities, consequences and impact of these mediums.
The festival will be composed of different areas, where the visitors will be able to play, watch, interact, understand and chill out if need be!
“You are in Ctrl”
The festival will explore the different ways of controlling the game, physically, intellectually, in common strategies etc… We want to question the notion of control in the ‘nerd culture’ within our social context. And of course we will look further to the edge, where we could start to lose control.
Video games are tools where you are required to take control (via controllers). A generation of new games intent to be more writerly and the player is given the chance to give meaning to his experience. The user takes over by playing the game, using his knowledge, experience, physical skills etc…The new explosion of motion gaming system gives the user a broader range of experiences and interactions. These attractive sides of video games are used in contemporary art especially in order to integrate the public to the art work.
Video games are also spaces, worlds, where the player can be someone else, allowing him to take control of this alter ego or accepting to lose control with somewhat measured consequences. New technologies are developed towards the direction that what was called magical seems today almost possible. Thanks to VR sets or kinects, for examples, our mind and our body are directly solicited to control the game.
Using video game tools and technologies allows artists and creators to give up some of their control over the final shape or their work, allowing the user to interfere, transform, experiment within the context the artist created. They need each other to complete the work. This basic element in video games became a particularly interesting relationship between the artist and its public. Giving the control or controller to the viewer is a way to give his thoughts, reactions and feeling a great space into the art scene.
Looking for more game industry events?
Check Jurie Horneman’s excellent gameconfs directory.
Looking for festival submission deadlines?
Have a look at the excellent promoter app calendar.
Events for the Dutch industry:
Game Industrie Kalender / DGG / Courage Events