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| © Music Games International |
Excellence Prize
Alice in Vivaldi's
Four Seasons
Game
Artist:Mirek Nisenbaum
(USA)
Mirek Nisenbaum
Mirek Nisenbaum, Studio Mobile Founder and Principal. Born in Minsk, Belarus in 1968. Educated in USSR and USA. Previous works include award-winning animations and numerous interactive projects. His other stuff are Raul Sanchez,Sabina Hahn,Dr. Roman Yakub,Igor Tkachenko, and Alexander Gimpelson.
We are honored to receive such a wonderful prize and to be in such great company of this festival's winners. It is both very humbling and proud experience.
We made the game with love and it is incredible to see that it is loved by other people, too. We thank you deeply.
With The Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland as guide, the user can enjoy learning about Vivaldi's Four Seasons while listening to the music. The wonderland-like environment is created with rich animation. A puzzle action game included in the software successfully teaches the user about instruments such as sound, type and category along with game rules.
How old were you when you "created" something first time in your life? At that time, what did you create, and what kind of medium did you use?
I suppose something like colored pencils or watercolors.
What kind of tools or medium do you use now? Please tell us the reason why you choose them.
Small child, I wanted to become a sailor and so I drew lots of ships and pirates.
If you could get "dream tools/medium" for your creation, what do you wish to get?
No, I work in many media, from digital to oil painting, often subject matter dictates the media, sometimes the opposite.
Do you have any consistent subject matter or theme through your works? If so, please explain us.
I think the main difference for me between Media Art and Fine Art is the audience. Fine art in my view is created for a small group of viewers, it’s usually very intimate activity in it’s creation and in it’s perception. Media Art on the other hand begins with presumption of multiple editions and more or less large potential viewing audience as well as different levels of viewer participation. So different considerations go into it’s creation. One of the challenges for me is in fact making Media Art more intimate, closer to Fine Art so to speak. Also some audiences are more perceptive to Digital media then others and that of course makes a big difference for some projects.
Please tell us the most difficult or considerable part when you create your work.
I think digital media opened many possibilities for me that would have otherwise been closed. For example I don’t think I would ever been able to create an animation where it not for the modern technologies, I simply would not have had the time to try.
Have you ever felt that your work is a "media art"? Also, what is the difference between "media arts" and "traditional fine arts"?
It affects some of my works more than others, in general I would say that changes in society affect me and of course by extension my work is affected.
As an artist/creator, please tell us your approach, stance or point of view when you create your work.
I would be happy if my work makes some people look back at history at culture at what society had already achieved, I think too much of modern culture is disconnected from the previous times and is oriented too much towards the future, which is not bad in itself, but I think we are just missing a balance. So I guess that balanced appreciation of the world is what I’m trying to achieve and pass on to others.
What is your motto?
“be flexible and never have a motto”, just came up with this one. I simply don’t have a motto.
What kind of situation in every day life do you get inspired most?
My family, travels, and good work of others.
What kind of vision do you have in your future development as the creator?
Having to work on great projects with great team and being able to provide for my family while I’m doing that, basically more of what I have done in the past few years.
Please name of the people, things, or phenomena that you have got most influenced by as the creator.
Vladimir Boiko
art critic and journalist. His ways of thinking and working have probably influenced me most as a creative person, since I had a privilege of having many conversations with him in my adolescence and youth..
Italian renaissance
the time of the greatest flourishing of art and thinking in the western world that is very close to me in it's ideas and visual expressions. Humanistic and analytical, beautiful and harmonious..
Umberto Eco
probably my favorite writer, though that's very difficult to choose..
Andrey Tarkovsky
I think one of the most stunning visual thinkers of our time. His films have made a profound impression on my views of the world in general and of the world that I live in..
Francis Bacon, Haim Sutin, Henry Matisse, Pablo Picasso, RembrandtÉ
This list can go on and on...
art critic and journalist. His ways of thinking and working have probably influenced me most as a creative person, since I had a privilege of having many conversations with him in my adolescence and youth..
Italian renaissance
the time of the greatest flourishing of art and thinking in the western world that is very close to me in it's ideas and visual expressions. Humanistic and analytical, beautiful and harmonious..
Umberto Eco
probably my favorite writer, though that's very difficult to choose..
Andrey Tarkovsky
I think one of the most stunning visual thinkers of our time. His films have made a profound impression on my views of the world in general and of the world that I live in..
Francis Bacon, Haim Sutin, Henry Matisse, Pablo Picasso, RembrandtÉ
This list can go on and on...
