emilie.m.reed@gmail.com | emreed.net
Abertay University
PhD in in School of Design and Informatics: Division of Games and Art | Awarded July 2019
Thesis Title: Arcades, Let’s Plays, and Avant-Gardes: Perspectives for Analyzing and Developing Videogame Exhibitions for Arts Audiences
Research degree investigating the history of curation and display of videogames and other interactive software works in arts institutions, to develop practices and frameworks for expressing videogame history and related practices through the medium of exhibition.
University of Edinburgh
MSc in Modern and Contemporary Art: History, Curating and Criticism | 2014
Dissertation Title: Video Games within Art Institutions: Theory and Practice
Taught Master’s degree program covering the history, theory and practical skills for researching,
discussing and curating art with a focus on issues specific to work from the mid 20th Century onwards. Involves traditional courses, practical internship component, and written dissertation.
Susquehanna University
Dual BA in Creative Writing and Art History | 2013
Dissertation Title: A Narrative of Many Voices: Display Strategies for Conceptual Art
I delivered lectures and tutorials, and assisted with grading exams for courses on games criticism, narrative development, and digital media history.
I developed and delivered educational and outreach events connecting the art gallery to the community.
I planned and developed social media content to support and promote the museum's current programming.
I successfully handled, transcribed, and recorded image descriptions for a large acquisition of historical photo albums and logbooks relating to the establishment of the gallery and its collections.
I safely handled a variety of historical artefacts, archival documents, large photo collections and other objects, digitizing them with scanners and digital cameras, preparing CMS entries for new accessions and writing effective object descriptions. I also transcribed interviews from the audio archive.
As the curator of the zine library space I had to manage the budget, gather supplies, set up and facilitate a zine library and zine-making space within the annual Now Play This festival exhibition. Acquiring the material for the zine library involved curating an international selection of zines related to the festival’s themes while also representing the variety of zine practices.
This exhibition presented a selection of videogames from creators who use Bitsy or Flatgame tools to make short, personal games. It explored how these tools influenced the aesthetics and themes of the games, and featured components where the games extended into physical space, or the visitor could create a game. Co-curated alongside Blake Andrews and Ebeth, I developed the proposal for the exhibition, curated a selection of games, liaised with artists, and prepared the accompanying zine content and custom installation elements for the featured Flatgames.
I curated videogames to feature in large-scale room installations, liaising with artists and conducting exhibition installation for this one-night event series, where experimental custom installations of independent and art games are displayed in the historic venue of The Caves in Edinburgh.
As a co-curator of the yearly exhibition of experimental games that is displayed alongside DiGRA conferences I expanded the scope of the show by increasing the length from the week of the conference to three months, in addition to playing a primary role in the selection process, liaising with artists, writing the catalogue and wall texts, and organizing public events to support the exhibition.
Group Show was a blog where I present curated selections of four games, works of art or digital objects, which served as a virtual exhibition space to express my research in a fresh way and hone my eye for curation as well as writing engaging and accessible texts.
For this exhibition on the history of controllers and player interfaces I was consulted for research into the equipment needs as well as helping to develop the timeline and wall text which would accompany the show. My research was supported by a grant from the Association of Art Historians.