We live in a world where many voices are often buried, ignored or tossed aside. Through Unfeeling Capitalism: Ruptures in Videogame Culture, we are shining a light on developers whose art rides above the hardships of everyday life under pressure. Join us for a FREE night of talk and play with game workers, players and artists confronting capitalism, white supremacy, and misogyny in real and virtual worlds. Presented by Mayworks Festival of Working People and the Arts, in collaboration with Hand Eye Society, Dames Making Games, Toronto Media Arts Centre, Unifor National, and Game Workers Unite.

Wednesday May 15
7 to 10 PM
Toronto Media Arts Centre
32 Lisgar Street

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This event is part of NGHTSHFTS, a programming series that honours those who labour in the dark – unseen, unpaid and unprotected. From May 1 to May 24, 2019, Mayworks will host 12 events which offer critical insight into the rise of the far right and the impacts of racism and colonialism on low-wage workers.

Guest Facilitators

Paolo Pedercini is a game developer, artist and educator. He teaches experimental game design, creative coding, and animation at Carnegie Mellon University. Working under the project name “molleindustria” he produces videogames addressing issues of labour and alienation, and the relationship between electronic entertainment and ideology. Paolo’s work has been exhibited internationally at festivals, galleries and museums including the Sundance Festival, the EMP Museum, Victoria & Albert Museum, Hammer Museum, Games for Change, Gwangju Design Biennale, Indiecade, FILE Brazil, LABoral, and ZKM.

Gaby Aveiro is an artist, speaker, and game designer. They reside in Toronto, Canada, where they create art based around expressions of latinidad, witchcraft, and ancestral traditions. Their latest project, Don’t Wake the Night, is a 2D point-and-click game that invites players to consider questions of violence and community accountability. Gaby is a co-director at Dames Making Games; their work has been presented at East Coast Game Conference (Raleigh), Game Developers Conference (San Francisco), Different Games (New York), IndieCade and the Queerness and Games conference (Los Angeles), aluCine festival (Toronto), AltCade (Portland), and the Fully-Automated Luxury Gender Oasis (Dublin, Ireland).

SpekWork is a studio exploring new political narratives through game design. SpekWork is a collaborative effort of Cat Bluemke, Ben McCarthy, and Jonathan Carroll, post-secondary instructors teaching from the intersections of art, labour, and emerging technologies. SpekWork develops games as immersive critical commentary, taking fundamental research in perception to be the foundation of emergent ideology. Their work has been exhibited internationally at venues such as at venues such as Kunsternes Hus (Norway), the 16th Venice Architecture Biennale, and the Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago).

Jordan Sparks is a Canadian multimedia artist, designer, and educator. A graduate of Ryerson University with a MA in Media Production, Jordan uses videos, art, and interactive technology to explore how media experiences can entertain the masses and inspire social change. Notable works include Spark Comics, a self-published webcomic series and An/Other, a critically acclaimed Game for Social Change. His work has been exhibited at event showcases across Toronto, including the META 2014, the Level Up Showcase, the Toronto Comic Arts Festival; Jordan has been featured in press coverage by the Torontoist, Toronto Star, and CityNews.