A selection of works about “games” by UCLA professor of design media arts Eddo Stern is the subject of a new limited edition book.
Stern, who is the director of the UCLA Game Lab, and who teaches courses on game design and culture, computer game development, and physical computing in an art context, uses games to explore the connections between physical existence and electronic simulation, surrounding the subjects of violence, memory and identification.
Part game manual, part catalogue, part archive, “How to Play Eddo Stern” revolves around a body of 17 works made by Stern during the last 20 years which, although developed with different media, can be understood as “games.” The book collects the massive amount of small bits and pieces that make up the folders of Stern’s game projects: 3-D models, texture maps and atlases, backdrops, animation frame sequences, code snippets, circuit diagrams, components, diagrams as well as emails, design documents, meeting notes, and installation diagrams.
Featuring an essay by Matteo Bittanti, the book has been edited by Domenico Quaranta, designed by Fabio Paris, and co-published by the Link Art Center, Brescia and HeK, House of Electronic Arts Basel. Printed in a limited edition of 100 copies, the book is also available online as a free download pdf and a print on demand paperback through the channels of Link Editions.
