Can Games Be Art? You Can Make One Yourself at Medrar and Makouk's New Workshop

Can games be art? Board games, card games, video games - when you think of the best of these, you think of how many artists must have been involved in their creation. Graphics, illustrations, soundtracks, storytelling; not all games have all of these, but you'll always find at least one of them in service of some essential game mechanic. Even if it's something as simple as the drawing of a clown on a piece of cardboard to show us that among the Jacks, Queens and Kings of the deck, the Joker is truly a wildcard. Exploring this unique intersection between artistry and game design, non-profit collective Medrar for Contemporary Art is collaborating with local game studio Makouk with the launch of their new programme, 'Shish Bish'.

Since its formation in 2005, Medrar has always been dedicated to providing a space for contemporary artists to cooperate and explore their ideas through their work. And as a studio, Makouk isn't just dedicated to creating games, but advocating for them - combating the perspective that games are a waste of time, and showing how natural and engaging they can be in every stage of life. Through Shish Bish, they invite artists to a workshop to educate artists and game designers (whether they're digital or analog) to strengthen their grasp of gamification, and giving them the tools they need to break some boundaries and create a compelling, artistic game.

The workshop will be held in Arabic, and will run for 9 days over 15 days starting January 8th. Each session lasts between 4 and 6 hours, and is open from 6 pm to 10 pm on weekdays, and 12 pm to 6 pm on weekends. The deadline for submission is November 29th. To sign up, you can find the application form through www.medrar.org/shisbish-workshop/.