Projects
Here is an overview of my projects and event involvements in recent years, from conferences to festivals, from the demoscene to the VR Dance Club and more. As especially the event projects are better represented on the curatomic website, this section is only updated via text-updates:
Conferences & Events
2024 Projects
- gamescom congress 2024: by Curatomic Team: Program Director (Tobias Kopka), Project Management (Alessandra van Otterlo), Speaker Management (Alessandra van Otterlo, Max Kolb, Maggie Polach)
- European Game Showcase 2024 in San Francisco: Co-Organisation and Curation
- devcom 2024: Coaching and Consulting
- Development of the VR Dance Club Brand
- New Piece of VR Dance Club: Hybrid Encounters, shown at HAU, Berlin and Theaternacht Köln, Freihandelszone
- Speaking and moderation appearances at GameOn (Vinius, Lithuania), Reboot Develop (Dubrovnik, Croatia), GIC Games Industry Conference (Poznan, Poland).
2023 Projects
- gamescom congress 2023: by Curatomic Team: Program Curation (Tobias Kopka), Project Management (Alessandra van Otterlo), Speaker Management (Alessandra van Otterlo, Max Kolb, Maggie Polach)
- European Game Showcase 2023 in San Francisco: Co-Organisation and Curation
- Reboot Develop Blue 2023: Speaker Support, Moderation
- German Developer Award: Show Planning, Moderation & Guests Briefing Content Dramaturgy
- I Spy With My Little Eye: 1+1 Guests & Performer VR & Dance Performance, showcased in Düsseldorf, Berlin, Dubrovnik, Köln), in a co-creative direction with Anna-Carolin Weber
- Beautiful Connection: 4+4 Guests & Performers VR & Dance Performance showcased in München & Alfter/Bonn, in a co-creative direction with Anna-Carolin Weber
2022 Projects
- gamesweek Dev Booster: Content Production, Call for Games, Jury Acquisition,
- gamesweek Live version: B2B Support, Panels Planning, Speaker Reachout, Moderation
- gamescom congress 2022: Concept Advisory, Program Curation
- Reboot Develop Blue: Speaker Support, Moderation, Performance
- German Developer Award: Show Planning, Moderation and Guests Briefing, Content Dramaturgy
- I Spy With My Little Eye: Five single projects as Performances and Laboratories on Big and Small Scales (Essen, Cologne, Dubrovnik, München), Co-Creative Direction.
- Next Level Festival: Curation and Production of Games-Parcour/Showcase of 23 Games under the Topic “Separate Together”; Moderation, Performance
2021 Projects
I was so fortunate to support in a leadership position:
- gamescom Congress
- Next Level Festival
- gamesweekberlin Pro X Dev Booster
Other involvements included A Maze & DevGamm Moscow.
I have also started curatomic as a full-time freelancing agency.
Ongoing projects & projects from before:
LUDICIOUS Zürich Game Festival / LUDICIOUS X, 2017 – 2020
Artistic & Program Director / Co-Festival Director
http://www.ludicious.ch
REBOOT DEVELOP, 2018 – ongoing
Head of Developer & Community Relations
Dubrovnik (Croatia), Banff (Canada)
https://rebootdevelop.com
European Game Showcase, 2017 – ongoing
Co-Founder & Organizer
http://europeangameshowcase.com/
Demoscene – The Art of Coding, 2018 – ongoing
Co-Initiator UNESCO Initiative / International Community Coordinator
demoscene-the-art-of-coding.net
Moderation, Talks (Selection)
Moderation during own events excluded for obvious reasons
- gamescom congress, Panel-Moderation: „Das Pandemische Karussel“, in Kollaboration mit Kulturrat
- 1E9 Conference, Deutsches Museum, Munich (11/2020), Keynote Talk
- Indie Game Business Conference (07/2020), Panel-Hosting
- Swiss National Museum (02/2020), Concept, Curation and Hosting: Swiss Game Design: Alternativen in einer Kultur des Wettbewerbs
- Game Rome (11/2019) – Awards Hosting, Panel Moderation
- Womenize Games & Film (10/2019): Program & Speaker-Consultation for existing Event-Format, Cologne 2019
- devcom Awards, gamescom 2019 (08/2019) – Laudator
- Nordic Game Conference (05/2019) – Panel Conception and Moderation
- Cologne Game Conference (10/2017) – Conference Moderation
- Reboot Develop (Dubrovnik (04/2017) – Panel Moderation: „From AAA to Indie and Back“ – with Tim Schafer, Chris Avellone and Patrice Desilets
- Ludicious Zürich Games Festival (01/2017) – Panel Moderation
- X-Mas Pitching of Games Bavaria, Munich (12/2016) – Hosting
- Next Level Festival, Düsseldorf (11/2016) – Demoshow Presentation
- Play-Festival, Hamburg (11/2016) – Talk & Demoshow Presentation
- Reboot Develop, Split (04/2016) – Panel Moderation
- GMGDC, Chengdu, China (11/2015) – Keynote Talk
Previous Conferences & Events
Respawn – Gathering of Game Developers, 2013 – 2017
Conference & Program Director
responsible for the program, speaker-scouting, content & international co-operations of Respawn – Gathering of Game Developers Respawn – Gathering of Game Developers 2013-2017 / Gamescom 2013-2017 August, Cologne (Germany)
DEVCOM, the game developers event at gamescom, 2017
Head of Content, International Partnerships
responsible for the program-content, speaker-scouting & international co-operations of the inauguration of devcom 2017
Quo Vadis Game Developer Conference, 2012 – 2017
Conference & Program Director
responsible for the program, speaker-scouting, content & international co-operations
Next Level Conference 2010, 2011
2010 Advisor, Concept and Curation Demoscene Exhibition
2011 Project-Management, Concept, Program
(in co-op with Can Rastovic, Johannes Brauckmann und Stephan Schwingeler)
SSL Sports Games & Learning Conference, 2011
Concept, Planning, Execution
Research conference on the relations of games, body-movement and learning, ifs internationale filmschule koeln
Workshop Day Games & Film I & II, 2009, 2010
Advisor, Concept, Execution
(in co-op with Alexandra Ohlsen and Wilma Warren / Sonja Weber)
ifs internationale filmschule koeln
Lectures and Articles
Demoscene – The Art of Coding, ongoing Project with website, talks, seminars, keynotes and community work to enlist the demoscene as UNESCO intangible cultural heritage, November 2018 – ongoing, http://demoscene-the-art-of-coding.net
Publication: Demoscene – Wettbewerbskultur und Community, Article for Stiftung Digitale Spielekultur, Online 2016. Online available under (German only): http://stiftung-digitale-spielekultur.de/artikel/demoscene-wettbewerbskultur-und-community
Lecture: Curating game conferences – approaches, insights and experiences Guest lecture at Parsons School for Design, New York Seminar of Benjamin Norskov New York City, October 2015
Workshop: „Quirky craft: an introduction into the demoscene in making Amiga style retro intros“ New York University, Game Innovation Lab (Andy Nealen/ Katherine Isbister) New York City, February 2015
Lecture: „Games / Culture / Business“ Universität zu Köln, Institut für Medienwissenschaften Seminar of Prof. Dr. Benjamin Beil, Köln January 2014.
Lecture: „Digitales Kamingespräch zwischen Tobias Heim und Tobias Kopka“ Digitale Kultur e.V. Next Level Conference Dortmund November 2013
Publication: Interface Control Meaning. Eine typologische Gegenstandssichtung des Phänomens Exergames, in: Serious Games, Exergames, Exerlearning. Zur Transmedialisierung und Gamification des Wissenstransfers (Hrsg.: Freyermuth, Gotto, Wallenfels), Bielefeld 2013, S. 265-288.
Curation, Production, Editing of the core video-pieces / exhibits on the demoscene for the permanent collection of the Computerspielemuseum, Berlin 2011
Lecture: Storytelling und Achievements: Motivationsstrukturen in MMOs, Universität zu Siegen, Januar 2011
Lecture: Games und Kulturelle Bildung in co-op with Stephan Schwingeler Dortmund U, Zentrum für Kunst und Kreativität Dortmund, Mai 2011
Expo: Museumsnacht Düsseldorf, Ausstellung und Demoshows on the demoscene, showcased at reinraum e.V. (produced with Tobias Heim und Johannes Brauckmann), Düsseldorf 2011
Keynote: Demos and Art: Opening Keynote, Next Level Conference, Köln, November 2010
Lecture: Authentizität im Computerspiel Museumsquartier Wien Quartier für Digitale Kultur, Subotron Oktober 2010
Lecture / Demoshow : Digital Art of the Demoscene Digitale Kultur e.V., Gamescom Main Stage, Köln August 2010
Lecture: Quo Vadis Demoscene? SIGINT – Konferenz des Chaos Computer Club, Köln, Mai 2010
Tobias Kopka, Anna-Carolin Weber, Community-Craft. Community-Strategien im Bereich digitaler Spiele als Anregungen für den Kulturbereich, in: Social Media im Kulturmanagement (Hrsg.: Karin Janner, Christian Holst, Axel Kopp), Heidelberg 2011, S. 115-147. Tobias Kopka, Anna-Carolin Weber, Online-Communities. Theoretische und praktische Grundlagen für Kulturschaffende, in: Kultur 2.0. Neue Web-Strategien für das Kulturmanagement, Hrg. Hans Scheurer/ Ralf Spiller, Bielefeld 2010, S. 161-187.
Lecture: Was man im Kultur-Bereich von Gaming-Communities lernen kann in co-op with Anna-Carolin Weber Start Conference 2010, Konferenz zu Social Media im Kulturbereich, Duisburg 2010
Lecture / Demoshow: Demos Howgo 2010 Living Games Festival 2010 / Ruhr 2010, Bochum 2010
Lecture: Community Building (with Anna-Carolin Weber) Start Conference 09, Duisburg 2009
Lecture: Von Cracktros bis zu Mirrors Edge: Das digitale Graffiti der Demoszene, Living Games Festival, Bochum 2009
Room 101, Demoscene inspired Video Piece, SVHS, 2001