Just Chatting: Jini Maxwell on
Out of Bounds: Exploring the Limits of Video Games
Join curator and video games journalist Jini Maxwell to discuss their recent exhibition Out of Bounds: Exploring the Limits of Video Games at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and broader questions surrounding the presentation, collection, and preservation of video games as a unique medium.
Currently on view at ACMI, Out of Bounds follows a group of Melbourne-based artists (Goldie Bartlett, Andrew Brophy, Ian MacLarty and Kalonica Quigley) known as The Grannies as they break 'out of bounds' in Rockstar Games’ hit action-adventure videogame Red Dead Redemption 2. The Grannies travel beyond the authored limits of the game's virtual world and into the increasingly broken and abstract space beyond. Rather than being driven by the desire to dominate or 'win', their adventures are driven by creative curiosity, presenting play as not just an end in itself, but as a form of artistic practice.
Out of Bounds distils these explorations into a multi-channel video artwork, The Grannies, directed by Marie Foulston and an original experimental videogame, Red Desert Render, by Ian MacLarty. Together, they offer a rare glimpse into the cracks of the apparent seamlessness of the digital world through an artist's eyes.
The conversation will be hosted by SAM curator Duncan Bass. This session is held in conjunction with the series Open Systems Broadcasts.
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Photo: Phoebe Powell. Images courtesy of The Grannies
about the artist
Jini Maxwell is a curator and an award-winning videogame journalist. They work at ACMI, Australia’s museum of screen culture, where they focus on games exhibitions in the gallery, and commission work for ACMI’s digital gallery. In addition to working on exhibitions, Jini co-organises ACMI X WIP night, a monthly meetup for screen creatives to showcase their works-in-progress. As a videogame journalist, Jini was awarded Best Gaming Journalist at the Samsung IT Journalism Awards in 2021. They contribute a regular games criticism column to The Saturday Paper and videogame correspondence to Schwartz Media’s podcast The Culture. In 2019 they became the first Games Content Lead for Artshub, where they helped found Gameshub, a new Australian games coverage platform, in 2021.
about open systems
Open Systems Broadcasts is a series of interactive live-streams exploring video games in and as contemporary art. Featuring artists, designers, and curators, Broadcasts are hosted via Twitch.tv/opensystems and adopt the platform’s presentation formats such as ‘Let’s Play’ and ‘Just Chatting.’ The live and interactive programmes aim to disrupt the formality of traditional artist talks, presentations, and Q&A sessions by incorporating real time comments and questions.