Thursday 07 November 2019 – Lunchtime Seminar with Kieran Nolan (Lecturer in Creative Media at Dundalk Institute of Technology’s School of Informatics and Creative Arts)

Title: Arcade Videogames as Aesthetic Interfaces and Self-Reflexive Research Artefacts
Speaker: Kieran Nolan (Lecturer in Creative Media at Dundalk Institute of Technology’s School of Informatics and Creative Arts)
Hosted by: Professor Luigina Ciolfi

Abstract:
This talk will cover a cross-section of research from Kieran Nolan’s PhD research, presenting a practice-included platform study of the arcade videogame interface as a self-reflexive art medium. The thesis frames the arcade as both platform and genre, combining approaches from game studies and media art, with particular focus on the mid-1980s to late 1990s, the JAMMA era.

Kieran will detail the design, development, and implementation of ‘Control’, ‘Arcade Operator’, and ‘VR SuperGun’. These game-based artefacts explore themes including interface constraints, materiality, and user context, combining to form a self-reflexive, experiential composite overview of the arcade interface.

Arcade platforms represent a set of technologies designed for consumer level play but traditionally closed off to non-developers as creative mediums. This research addresses their nature as aesthetic interfaces, not just for game play, but also as expressive digital materials, while also addressing their role as a convergent link across new media art, interface design, game studies, and indie-game development.

Biography:
Kieran Nolan is a lecturer in Creative Media at Dundalk Institute of Technology’s School of Informatics and Creative Arts, and Co Director of DkIT’s Creative Arts Research Centre. Kieran’s research spans media art, indie game development, and game studies.

His PhD research with the Graphics Vision and Visualisation group at Trinity College Dublin focuses on the aesthetic, material, and connective properties of JAMMA era arcade games, aligning artistic practice alongside historical, technical, and theoretical context.

Kieran’s works have been published internationally at exhibitions and conferences including ISEA, DiGRA, A MAZE, Out Of Index, Game On! El arte en juego, Science Gallery, Vector Festival, CEEGS, CHI Play, EGX Leftfield Collection, IEEE Games, Entertainment & Media, Replaying Japan, Art.CHI, Playing The Game, and Transmediale.

Further information can be found on Kieran’s website here.

1.00PM-2.00PM
THURSDAY 07 NOVEMBER 2019
CANTOR 9024, CITY CAMPUS, SHEFFIELD HALLAM UNIVERSITY

See here for details of other seminars in the series.

All SHU staff and students are welcome to attend the C3RI Lunchtime Research Seminars. If you are from outside of the University and would like to attend a seminar, please email the C3RI Administrator to arrange entry.