Jason Nelson

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Jason Nelson is a digital and hypermedia poet and artist. He is Associate Professor of Digital Culture and a PI at the Center for Digital Narrative at the University of Bergen, [1] where he was also a Fulbright Fellow from 2016-17. [2] Until 2020 he was a lecturer on Cyberstudies, digital writing and creative practice at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia. He is best known for his artistic flash games/essays such as Game, game, game and again game and I made this. You play this. We are Enemies. He has worked on the Australia Council of the Arts Literature Board [3] and the Board of the Electronic Literature Organization based at MIT.

Contents

Nelson's style of Web art merges various genres and technologies, focusing on collages of poetry, image, sound, movement and interaction. [4]

Early life and education

Nelson grew up in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He has a BA from the University of Oklahoma and an MFA in New Media Writing from Bowling Green State University. He began work as a poet, and has created over 30 digital works of art. As of 2009, he teaches Cyberstudies, digital art, and digital creative writing at Griffith University in Queensland, Australia.

Nelson is known as a cyberpoet, using multiple media that merge and transform into each other. His style of "mixture chaos" and art nouveau has led to mixed reviews. Some critics [5] cannot see past the "characteristic messiness" or "strangeness" in his approach, with the Wall Street Journal calling his work "as alienating as modern art can get". [6] Others have described his work as "Basquiat meets Mario Brothers", [7] and said that it represents the future of poetry and art games. [8]

Works

The artist's work is often described as being interdisciplinary, crossing over into different fields of art and writing. These include poetry, hypermedia art, digital art, writing and game play and science. [9] And many of the artist's works are exploring the intersection of interface and technology and how it impacts digital writing and art. [10]

Static art and essays

Nelson's art portal, secrettechnology.com, won a Webby Award in the "Weird" category in 2009. Some of his works include Between Treacherous Objects, The Poetry Cube, The Bomar Gene, Pandemic Rooms.

Interactive art and games

Many of Nelson's works require effort and a bit of skill on the part of the viewer. Some are framed explicitly as games, others as elaborate mechanisms for progressing through a series of elements of a work.

Other works

Awards

Nelson has received awards for his digital poetics (in 2005) and for his piece This is How You Will Die (in 2006). [21]

See also

Notes

  1. See also "Jason Nelson Speaks from the Machine Archived 27 February 2008 at the Stanford Web Archive ", with a photo of Nelson giving lecture with "Between Treacherous Objects" featured behind him. The photo was taken at Penn State University.
  2. See for instance Joystiq, Jay Is Games, and Wired's takes.

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References

  1. Megias, Carlota (19 April 2021). "Jason Nelson Appointed Associate Professor at UiB Digital Culture". University of Bergen.
  2. , University of Bergen. December 2016.
  3. "www.australiacouncil.gov.au". Archived from the original on 11 January 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2014.
  4. museumtwo.blogspot.com
  5. www.huffingtonpost.com
  6. www.newscientist.com
  7. www.theguardian.com
  8. www.digicult.it
  9. , Engage Arts . March 2016.
  10. , Cordite Poetry Review . December 2011.
  11. secrettechnology.com
  12. Culture Vulture site of the week, The Guardian . July 2006.
  13. www.freewaregenius.com
  14. Boing Boing
  15. Wonderland Blog
  16. Heliozoa.com
  17. Entanglegrids at secrettechnology.com
  18. Alexander, Leigh et al. Sawbuck Gamer: October 26, 2009 - Evidence of Everything Exploding . A.V. Club - Gameological Society. 26 October 2009.
  19. Caoili, Eric. This Week In Video Game Criticism: From Strategy Games To Chrono Trigger's Systems . GameSetWatch. 26 July 2011.
  20. Szilak, Illya (7 March 2013). "It's All Fun Until Someone Loses: E-lit Plays Games". Huffington Post.
  21. www.drunkenboat.com