Toledo Tech Events

Three dozen invited artists created the roughly 70 works in the new Community Gallery exhibition Zeros and Ones: Computer Generated Art, which is on view May 16–Sept. 18. A surprising mix of computer techniques was used to create the objects, which include 10 short videos as well as two–dimensional art.

Meet the local artists on May 16 from 6–7 p.m. in the gallery.

The free exhibition was inspired by the concept of art and technology in The Art of Video Games exhibition coming to TMA on June 19.

In the 40+ years since video games first winked into existence, they have become a global phenomena and emerged as an important artistic and storytelling medium in popular culture. Chris Melissinos, creator and guest curator of The Art of Video Games, traces the games’ journey from humble beginnings to global sensation, explores why we love them, and reveals how this groundbreaking exhibition came to be.

Afterward, he will be on hand to sign copies of the exhibition catalogue "The Art of Video Games: From Pac-Man to Mass Effect" ($40) co-authored by Mr. Melissinos and Patrick O'Rourke.

Celebrate the arrival of the Toledo Museum of Art’s summer exhibition The Art of Video Games with hands-on activities, a cash bar, light snacks, dancing, a game-inspired photobooth and a rock-paper-scissors tournament.

Dress code ranges from graphic tees to video game character costumes and everything in between.

Admission is free for Museum members, $20 for adult nonmembers and $10 for nonmembers age 6–12. In the Main Museum.

The party is sponsored in part by Hanson Inc.

A young computer whiz (Matthew Broderick) taps into a top secret supercomputer which has control over the U.S. nuclear arsenal in this Academy Award-nominated thiller. When it challenges him to a game between America and Russia, he innocently starts the countdown to World War 3. Can he avert war and convince the computer he was only playing? (1983, 114 min.)

In the Little Theater. Free.

Join AIGA Toledo at the Toledo Museum of Art to tour The Art of Video Games. This exhibition shows the striking visual effects, player interactivity and creative use of new technologies in games. By focusing on four game types—action, adventure, target and combat/strategy—the exhibition reveals the emergence of video games as a means of storytelling and audience engagement. We will be able to connect with the content of the show across generations, from classics such as Pac-Man and Super Mario Brothers to more recent games like Flower and Super Mario Galaxy 2.

After the museum tour we will be heading to Mutz for food and drinks! There, we can recap the exhibition and share some design stories.

If you cannot make it in person, watch LIVE on WGTE KnowledgeStream: http://www.knowledgestream.org/kstream/

With more than 20 years each producing video games, panelists Nathaniel McClure, Navid Khonsari and Blaine Graboyes are pioneering new gaming frontiers. These three veterans and innovators in the video game industry talk about the next generation of gaming and share their insight into the industry’s future in this panel discussion.

In the Little Theater. Free.

A teenage gamer, seemingly doomed to live out his days in a trailer park, finds himself recruited as a gunner for an alien defense force and asked to take the skills he showed in the video game into real combat to protect the galaxy from invasion. (1984, 101 min.)

In the Little Theater. Free.

This 2012 documentary follows four independent game developers who have taken the industry by storm. (2012, 104 min.)

About the movie: http://buy.indiegamethemovie.com/

In the Little Theater. Free.

Born in Toledo, Brett Leonard is a visionary American film and video director, writer, and producer. The Lawnmower Man, Leonard’s cautionary tale on virtual reality, was the most successful independent film of 1992 and was acclaimed for its cutting edge computer animation and visual effects. Virtuosity (1992), starring Russell Crowe and Denzel Washington, explored nanotechnology in a cyberpunk future.

Mr. Leonard joins TMA Director Brian Kennedy in a conversation about the creative possibilities of digital technology.

The TMA Masters Series is sponsored in part by the TMA Ambassadors, a group of active Museum supporters and fundraisers.