‘Afropolitan Talk: Decolonial perspectives on video games’

Isabelle Arvers is a game artist and curator whose research focuses on the interaction between art and video games. She has studied the artistic, ethical and critical implications of digital games. Since 2019, she has embarked on a world tour to meet people who are using video games as a new language to promote decolonial practices, taking a particular interest in games that deal with queer, feminist and decolonial practices.  

At the invitation of the Afropolitan Festival and its partner Creative District, Isabelle Arvers gave a workshop in Brussels last April on countergaming and the creation of "machinimas", experimental films made from video game sequences. Artists and students attended this workshop and created their own machinimas that question gender, sexuality, or racial stereotypes, among other issues. 

During this meeting, Peggy Pierrot, an intellectual and professor at the École de Recherche Graphique (ERG) in Brussels, will discuss her work with Isabelle Arvers. The films produced during the workshop will then be presented by their authors and followed by a discussion on the creative potential of video game piracy.   

With: Sahel Bourgeau, Hady Salomé Dahan, Barbara Lefebvre, Nicole Letuppe, Kenny Mala Ngombe, Laurent Mbaah, Laura Nsengiyumva, Anna Pastor, Ella Spencer.