AGO Let’s Play is an exciting series of new programs investigating the intersection of art history, game arts and design. Join us on Twitch as we play and talk through a different game each week. We’ll explore how games shape culture, adopt art historical traditions and inspire new forms of community engagement. Twitch is an online space for viewers to watch others play while offering their insights about the game and, in our case, art more broadly.

This week, we'll be joined by Sagan Yee, an artist and community facilitator, to play the critically acclaimed A Short Hike (2019), developed by our second guest, artist Adam Robinson-Yu. The game follows an anthropomorphic bird, out on an hiking adventure, in search of cellphone reception. The world in which this story unfolds draws together patches of orange, yellow and green to evoke the vast expanse of the Canadian Shield — Robinson-Yu identifies this natural wonder as a key influence. The game is a work of extraordinary skill and charm, providing an immersive experience for players of all backgrounds.

The subject of the landscape is one that is considered by both Robinson-Yu and the eminent painter J.E.H. MacDonald, a founding member of the Group of Seven. Working under similar principles, both artists are generous in their use of colour and form to produce scenes of shore, cliff and sky. At a time when many of us have a diminishing connection to the natural world, this game serves as a declaration of rural beauty.  

The conversation will be led by the Aden Solway, Curatorial Assistant, Live Projects & Performance, at the AGO.

. . . 

Sagan Yee is an artist and animator who lives, works, and plays in Toronto on Treaty 13 territory. Their interactive work has been showcased at events such as Vector Festival, Sight and Sound, Indiecade, and Ontario Place Winter Lights. They are currently director of the Hand Eye Society, an organization dedicated to the exploration of videogames and playful media as an art form. You can find them at www.saganyee.com and on Twitter. 

Adam Robinson-Yu has been enthusiastically making games from a young age. After receiving a BSc with High Distinction in Computer Science from the University of Toronto, he completed his first formal project Pitfall Planet as a member of Bonfire Games in 2016. He has released dozens of small-form titles on itch.io and local game jams. In 2017, he was selected to attend Stugan, an incubator retreat outside of Stockholm, Sweden. A Short Hike is one of his two current projects, the other being an untitled Paper RPG title still in early development.

Aden Solway is the Curatorial Assistant for Live Projects & Performance at the AGO. Trained as an artist and a historian, they have held positions across three continents, supporting projects led by Sullivan Galleries, The Scotiabank Contact Festival, The Whitney Museum of American Art, Princeton University, The Art Institute of Chicago and York University. Over the last decade, they have maintained residency and fellowship positions at Burren College Of Art (Ireland), Museum of Contemporary Art (Toronto), Cornell University's Faculty of Architecture, Art and Planning (NYC) and Nave Projects (Ecuador). They are the founder of Closed Office, a research laboratory that investigates the myriad intersections of urbanism, art and performance.

 We acknowledge GAIN (Game Arts International Network) as our consulting partner.