No Quarter 2022, NYU Game Center’s Exhibition of New Work, Returns Nov. 18

NYU Game Center hosts No Quarter 2022The annual exhibition of new games returns to the yearly venue for the first time since the outbreak in 2019. The 11th installment of the popular event is set for Nov. 18 from 7:00 — 11:00 p.m. at 370 Jay St. in Brooklyn.

The NYU Game Center has had a curator for 10 years. This curator commissioned work from both established and new artists in the games industry and related fields. For No Quarter 2022, it has enlisted Marie Foulston, a game design expert who has collaborated with the V&A in London, Cooper Hewitt, the Smithsonian Design Museum, Netflix and PlayStation.

Foulston has chosen four designers and design teams – Jenny Jiao Hsia and AP Thomson, Claire Kwong, Douglas Wilson and Melissa McGlensey and Videogamo – to create what she describes as an eclectic arcade of games that challenge our expectations of what it means to play together. 

“No Quarter has been a staple of the New York independent game scene for over a decade and so it means a lot to see it return after a two-year hiatus,” Foulston said. “During those years many people turned to online games and play, even if it was just a family quiz over Zoom, as a way to stay connected.”  

Hsia Thomson and Thomson are an award-winning duo from New York City. They have taught and studied at the NYU Game Center, and were featured at museums and conferences. They are currently working together on Consume me a semi-autobiographical game about Hsia’s high school years. They will exhibit Leisurely Eatery A competition that is held at a family meal allows players to either work with their families or to sabotage them.

Kwong creates interactive experiences which encourage people to touch one another and communicate with them. She is based in New York and has shown in Berlin, Amsterdam, London, and London. Her project BetweenThe experience of, for two players, uses light, touch, movement and motion to explore the space between them.

Wilson and McGlensey currently live in Australia. They use their love for reality TV to collaborate on game design and live performance. Their piece Factions: The Podcast (Season 1)Listeners are invited to participate in the competition podcast series, which invites them to listen as the 10 contestants discuss, lie, negotiate, and vote for each other.

Videogamo is an Argentine company that specializes in hardware games, including DOBOTONE and NAVE Arcade. Their commission GOL-E-GOLThis is a foosball table that has been custom-built and combined with a video arcade.

No Quarter, a reference to the 25-cent coin that traditionally fed arcade games, attracts independent designers, players and scholars for an event that stretches the definition of games, said Naomi Clark, chair of NYU’s Game Center.  

“It’s an artform, a meaningful part of our culture,” Clark said. “No Quarter brings together the New York game community, and draws attention to the people who are fashioning new experiences of play.”

No Quarter started in 2010 and over the next decade featured artists including Zach Gage, Kevin Cancienne, Mark Essen and Margaret Robertson and launched such games as Terry Cavanagh’s At a Distance and Catt Small’s Breakup Squad. Exhibits have included digital, board and spectator-friendly games. 

Foulston stated that the return of the curated shows is highly anticipated following the pandemic.

“Unlike any time that has gone before, the pandemic showed us just how essential the experience of playing together can be in our lives,”  said Foulston, co-founder of the UK-based alternative game collective, Wild Rumpus. “This year’s No Quarter is a celebration of the inspiring creatives who work in the game space, but also a way to give them creative freedom to create new work that explores the many different ways games can bring us together.”

No Quarter 2022 Reservations are required. Register on this website to reserve your spot.  To be admitted, visitors must present proof of vaccination and a form of identification.  

New York University’s Game Center The Tisch School of the Art houses the Department of Game Design. It aims to educate the next generation in game design, development, entrepreneurship, and criticisms, and to promote the field of gaming by providing scholarship and opportunities for innovation. It is open to undergraduate and graduate students of all disciplines, including law, computer programming, visual art and animation, sound and music writing, architecture, and law.