Cindy Poremba
Faculty of Arts & Science
Cindy Poremba is a digital media researcher, gamemaker and curator. They are an Associate Professor (Digital Futures) at OCAD University (Tkaronto/Toronto, CA) and Co-Director of OCAD’s game:play Lab.
Dr. Poremba has presented internationally at conferences, festivals and invited lectures, on topics relating to game art and curation, capture in postmedia practices, and interactive documentary. Their research and critical writing has been published in journals such as Eludamos, Loading, Game Studies and Games & Culture, as well as edited collections, art catalogs and magazines. Cindy has held positions on award juries including the Independent Game Festival (Design and Nuovo), served as Co-Chair for the IndieCade, and is a past Board member of the Hand Eye Society. They currently sit on the Board of the Game Arts International Network (GAIN).
Cindy also organizes non-traditional exhibitions as an independent curator, including Joue le jeu/Play Along (FR), and XYZ: Alternative Voices in Game Design (US). Their award-winning game and “New Arcade” work, independently and as a member of the kokoromi experimental videogame collective, has been featured in both international game and digital art exhibitions.
A Renewable Artgames Residency: exploring sustainable practices for art game design
Abstract Proceedings of DiGRA 2024 Conference: Playgrounds
Published: November 13th 2024
Going Deep: Hybrid Capture in Documentary
The Interactive Documentary in Canada
Published: November 13th 2024
Ansel and the (T/M)aking of Amateur Game Photography
Screen Images. In-Game Photography, Screenshot, Screencast
Published: November 13th 2023
Enacting Photojournalism in Videogames
Abstract Proceedings of DiGRA 2023 Conference: Limits and Margins of Games
Published: November 13th 2023
La remédiation des images de cinéma dans le jeu vidéo
Published: November 13th 2023
A Visual Programming Interface for Experimenting with Volumetric Video
2022 IEEE Games, Entertainment, Media Conference, GEM 2022
Published: November 13th 2022
As the End Drew Near: Exploring Volumetric Video in Videogames (Demo)
2022 IEEE Games Entertainment Media Conference Gem 2022
Published: November 13th 2022
Bodies in Play zine
DIY Methods 2022 Conference Proceedings
Published: November 13th 2022
Capturing Volumetric Video for Remote Learning in the Studio Arts
Published: November 13th 2022
WING COMMANDER III: HEART OF THE TIGER (1994)
Fifty Key Video Games
Published: November 13th 2022
Any one, anyWare: Perceiving sentience and embodiment in a distributed sculpture
Proceedings of the 26th International Symposium of Electronic Art (ISEA 2020)
Published: November 13th 2021
Fiction façade and the zero player game
Art After Dark
Published: November 13th 2021
VVV: Volumetric video in videogames
Proceedings of the 26th International Symposium of Electronic Art (ISEA 2020)
Published: November 13th 2021
From Dead-end to Cutting Edge: Using FMV Design Patterns to Jumpstart a Video Revival
Game Studies
Published: November 13th 2020
Ten years of Digital Futures: An oral history, part 1.
Virtual Creativity
Published: November 13th 2020
Ten years of Digital Futures: An oral history, part 2.
Virtual Creativity
Published: November 13th 2020
Ten years of Digital Futures: An oral history, part 4.
Virtual Creativity
Published: November 13th 2020
Ten years of digital futures: An oral history, part 1
Virtual Creativity
Published: November 13th 2020
Ten years of digital futures: An oral history, part 2
Virtual Creativity
Published: November 13th 2020
Ten years of digital futures: An oral history, part 3
Virtual Creativity
Published: November 13th 2020
Ten years of digital futures: An oral history, part 4
Virtual Creativity
Published: November 13th 2020
Ten years of digital futures: An oral history, part 5
Virtual Creativity
Published: November 13th 2020
Ten years of digital futures: An oral history, part 6
Virtual Creativity
Published: November 13th 2020
VVV: Volumetric video in videogames
Published: November 13th 2020
VVV: Volumetric Video in Videogames is a research-creation project aiming to advance experimental development using volumetric video (a computational fusion between captured depth data and video images) in expressive videogames by drawing upon successful patterns from early game design practices foregrounding captured media. Such exploration is essential given the complexity of hybrid capture images. This ongoing project presents new ways of understanding captured media within highly interactive postmedia forms. fullmotion video)/interactive cinema games, incorporating both historic and more recent examples in this niche genre. Using the HACS (Historical-Analytical Comparative System) system [1], common and potentially useable patterns were identified, evaluated, and later translated from formal pattern language into more accessible descriptions for use in design ideation and/or troubleshooting (see Fig 1 for examples).
Rock Stars & Plastic Guitars: Designing & Playing with Captured Experiences in Music Videogames
Abstract Proceedings of DiGRA 2019 Conference: Game, Play and the Emerging Ludo-Mix
Published: November 13th 2019
" Play belongs to Everybody": An Interview with the Ludica Collective
Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture
Published: November 13th 2017
ARTcade: A Canadian Game Studies Association Symposium Vignette
Loading… The Journal of the Canadian Game Studies Association
Published: November 13th 2017
Beyond boy’s toys: Women, play and Mindstorms™ Robotics
Life by Design: Everyday Digital Culture Symposium
Published: November 13th 2017
Critical potential on the brink of the magic circle
DiGRA 2007 Situated Play Conference
Published: November 13th 2017
Discourse engines for art mods
Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture
Published: November 13th 2017
Patches of peace: Tiny signs of agency in digital games.
DiGRA International Conference: Level Up
Published: November 13th 2017
Performative inquiry and the sublime in Escape from Woomera
Games and Culture
Published: November 13th 2013
Discourse Engines for Art Mods
Published: November 13th 2010
This paper presents a genealogy of "art mod" (artistic videogame modification) definitions and frameworks. Such frameworks serve, either intentionally or unintentionally, to establish modding within a tradition of analysis and critique: whether participatory design, alternative media, folk art, and/or fine art. By situating the definition and history of art mods within a particular discourse, researchers construct the ground from which to make arguments towards organizing the reception and critique of these works. Such arguments include whether mods in general (and art mods in particular) are inherently political or banal (even boring), whether these works speak back at all to games themselves (and whether they should), whether these works are powerful and disruptive; or compromised (by virtue of their parasitic position), and as a result marginal. A genealogy of art mod frameworks highlights the boundary politics of the critique of art mods, and the problem of presenting transparent interpretive lenses in an interdisciplinary field such as game studies.
Frames and simulated documents: Indexicality in documentary videogames
Load. J. Can. Game Stud. Assoc
Published: November 13th 2009
Game art on a dematerialized web
Magazine électronique du CIAC / Centre International d'Art Contemporain
Published: November 13th 2009
JFK Reloaded: Documentary framing and the simulated document
Loading...
Published: November 13th 2009
JFK reloaded: Documentary framing and the simulated document
Published: November 13th 2009
Making Sense of Game Aesthetics [Panel Abstracts]
Proceedings of DiGRA 2009 Conference: Breaking New Ground: Innovation in Games, Play, Practice and Theory
Published: November 13th 2009
Can games get real? A closer look at 'documentary' digital games
Computer Games as a Sociocultural Phenomenon: Games Without Frontiers - War Without Tears
Published: November 13th 2008
“Play belongs to Everybody”: An interview with the Ludica Collective
Published: November 13th 2008
ARTcade: A Canadian Game Studies Association Symposium Vignette
Published: November 13th 2007
Critical potential on the brink of the magic circle
3rd Digital Games Research Association International Conference: "Situated Play", DiGRA 2007
Published: November 13th 2007
Play with me: Exploring the autobiographical through digital games
Proceedings of DiGRA 2007 Conference: Situated Play
Published: November 13th 2007
Point and shoot: Remediating photography in gamespace
Games and Culture
Published: November 13th 2007
Against embedded agency: Subversion and emergence in GTA3
The Meaning and Culture of Grand Theft Auto: Critical Essays
Published: November 13th 2006
Real/Unreal: Constructing Actuality through the Documentary Digital Game
Published: November 13th 2005
Against Embedded Agency: Subversion and Emergence in GTA III
Published: November 13th 2003
Patches of peace: Tiny signs of agency in digital games.
Published: November 13th 2003
One of the more interesting and distinct aspects of digital games is the proliferation of player produced artifacts. The reworking of original game materials is an integral part of game culture that cannot be ignored in the study of these games. This paper explores player authorship in digital games through the rhetoric of select peace-themed game modifications.
Remaking each other’s dreams: Player authors in digital games
New Forms Festival 2003
Published: November 13th 2003
Remaking each other’s dreams: Player authors in digital games
Published: November 13th 2003
One of the more interesting and distinct aspects of the digital game genre is the proliferation of player-produced content and artifacts. The reworking of original game materials is an integral part of game culture that can not be ignored in the study of these games. This paper explores playerproduction as a mode of authorship reflecting the agency of the game player.
This is Research; Poremba: VVV: Volumetric Video in Videogames
VVV: Volumetric Video in Videogames is a practice-based research inquiry that uses full motion video (FMV) videogame design patterns to scaffold the design of new games using volumetric (spatial 3D) video. It aims to advance critical discourse and design knowledge surrounding volumetric video and other emerging forms of hybrid captured media, within videogames and related immersive experiences. VVV is a multi-institution collaboration between experimental game designer Dr. Cindy Poremba (OCAD University), game historian Dr. Carl Therrien (Université de Montréal), and Prof. Nicolas Hesler (Sheridan College); in partnership with Scatter, the engineers of the volumetric video platform DepthKit.
PhD Interdisciplinary Humanities
Type: Graduate Studies
Concordia University
MASc Interactive Arts
Type: School of Interactive Arts and Technology
Simon Fraser University - Surrey
BA, Rhetoric and Professional Writing (New Media Specialization)
Type: English
University of Waterloo
Associate Professor
Type: Digital Futures
OCAD University
Interim Graduate Program Director, Digital Futures
Type: School of Graduate Studies
OCAD University