New School of Information Arts and Technologies Faculty Member Selected for Major Juried Show
May 21, 2008
Contact: University Relations
Phone: 410.837.5739
Aaron Oldenburg, a Baltimore-based digital artist and video game designer who will begin teaching in the University of Baltimore's School of Information Arts and Technologies this fall, has been selected to exhibit an interactive work at the Association for Computer Machinery's ACM SIGGRAPH, the major international conference on computer graphics. Oldenburg’s project, "The Mischief of Created Things," will be included in "Slow Art," a juried exhibition of new media art presented at the conference. It will take place Aug. 11-15 in Los Angeles. Competition for SIGGRAPH exhibition is intense, and selection is a significant honor.
"The Mischief of Created Things" is an interactive environmental narrative dealing with new images of West Africa and philosophies of computer game design. The content was based on Oldenburg's two years as a development worker in Mali. The imagery revolves around allowing the player to find the "magic" in the mundane, hybrid/traditional Malian and Western culture. The narrative overlaps between magic and technology. Oldenburg created the work in fulfillment of his Master of Fine Arts degree in Imaging and Digital Art at UMBC.
Oldenburg will join the School of Information Arts and Technologies as an assistant professor in August. He will teach courses in computer graphics, game design, and digital culture, chiefly in the B.S. program in Simulation and Digital Entertainment.
In addition to his master's degree from UMBC, Oldenburg also holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Florida State University. He has participated in a number of group exhibitions and screenings, both in the United States and abroad. He also has done freelance work for MTV Networks' site AddictingGames.com.
The University of Baltimore is a member of the University System of Maryland and comprises the School of Law, the Yale Gordon College of Liberal Arts and the Merrick School of Business.