A game tower crowned Diversion's tenth anniversary in Paris
Pierre Moulin's new game THE HOST, scored by Octave Magescas, showed alongside four works from the Distraction collective.
For its tenth birthday, Diversion — the Paris immersive-events company, running since 2016 — didn't just throw a party. It marked the decade with an exhibition from distraction.fun, the near-namesake Paris collective of artists and designers making video games as gallery work. The centerpiece: THE HOST, a new game by Distraction member Pierre Moulin with a score by Octave Magescas, installed at the venue Electric in a purpose-built "game tower." Moulin shared installation shots from the show in July.
The rest of the checklist reads like a field guide to French artist-games right now: Daddy Loves You Too by Vincent Moulinet, Indulto by Mélanie Courtinat, Playing the Game Is Letting It Exist by Stella Jacob, and Staggered by Nino Filiu. That last one came out of Residence Evil, the residency program Distraction runs for itself, and just resurfaced in Filiu's solo show at A MAZE's Shop-Gallery in Berlin. This crew is circulating, and the same names keep appearing wherever games are treated as exhibition objects rather than products.
Games as gallery objects is a beat Killscreen has walked for fifteen years. The free newsletter keeps you on the guest list.
