The curator for games at the Zentrum
für Kunst und Medientechnologie Karlsruhe (ZKM | Karlsruhe), Laura C. Schmidt, talks about building a collection and
the challenges and realities of exhibiting computer games as a cultural asset. In conversation, Margarete Jahrmann and Jogi
Neufeld will exchange experiences and perspectives.
The ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe collects and exhibits
games and experimental games. Among other things, Margarete Jahrmann was a participant in the first ZKM shows that integrated
experimental games: net_condition, 1999 with the distributed
LOGFILE
GAME Linx3D and has since been part of the
permanent
collection of the ZKM with a
game console.
ZKM | Karlsruhe was
one of the first art institutions worldwide to offer computer game culture a permanent public platform in an art context.
Since then, the presentation of games has been repeatedly redesigned in a series of different exhibitions,leading to the current
edition, »zkm_gameplay. the next level.« With around 80 exhibits from 1972 to the present day - most of them playable - visitors
are invited to experience the cultural phenomenon up close. Against the background of the ZKM's special expertise in exhibiting
and preserving media art and video games, the lecture will provide an insight into the work of the ZKM | Karlsruhe, the game
exhibition, and the challenges of collecting and exhibiting games.
Laura C. Schmidt studied Fine
Arts (B.A.) at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, Spain, and completed her Master's degree in Multimedia and Visual Arts
at the Universidad Politécnica de Valencia, Spain. She studied Interaction Design at the University of Applied Sciences Joanneum
in Graz, Austria, and Public Interest Design at the University of Wuppertal, Germany. Since 2023 she has been a curator with
a focus on games at the ZKM | Centre for Art and Media Karlsruhe, where she previously worked in various functions since 2020.
Her main curatorial interest lies at the intersection of media art, gaming and digital culture.
