Transformations: Dynamics of Change in Media Environments

This year CGL marks its 15th anniversary with Transformations – Dynamics of Change in Media Environments. From September 23–25, international experts from academia, the games industry, and the creative sector come together to explore the future of media, game development, and digital storytelling.

Highlights include keynote talks on game studies and industry trends, thematic summits on sustainability, social impact, and artificial intelligence and a curated exhibition showcasing student projects and innovative prototypes from the CGL incubator. The conference also features artistic performances blending science and creativity, creating a unique platform for interdisciplinary exchange.

Keynotes:

• Benedikt Grindel & Odile Limpach | Playing the Long Game: 30 Years of Industry Disruption and Personal Reinvention
  
• Richard Lemarchant | Identity Trouble: Body Swapping, Mind Hopping, and Gnostic Transformations in Storytelling and Game
  
• Lars C. Grabbe | Design Research and AI. Design and Knowledge in the Context of the Techno-Imaginary
  
• Gundolf S. Freyermuth | Are Game Studies Any Good? What for? And Why Not? With a Few Asides on Academia’s Global Crisis
  
  Agenda:
  
  Tuesday | September 23
  
• 5.00 pm – 5.30 pm | Opening
• Welcome & Introduction
  
• 5.30 pm – 6.45 pm | Opening Keynote: Odile Limpach (SpielFabrique & Cologne Game Lab) & Benedikt Grindel (Ubisoft Blue Byte)
  Playing the Long Game: 30 Years of Industry Disruption and Personal Reinvention
  
• 06.45 pm – 08.45 pm | Summit: Embodied Encounters
  Summit Keynote: Richard Lemarchand (University of Southern California)
  Identity Trouble: Body Swapping, Mind Hopping, and Gnostic Transformations in Storytelling and Game
  
• 8.00 pm – 8.45 pm | Performance: VR Dance Club (Room 204, invite-only)
  The Future Is Us (Interactive Audio-Dance Performance)
  

Wednesday | September 24

• 10.00 am – 1.30 pm | Summit: Transforming and Transformative Video Games (in cooperation with SpielFabrique)
  
• 01.30 pm – 02.30 pm | Lunch Break
  
• 02.30 pm – 06.00 pm | Summit: Synthetic Play and the Creative Ecology of AI (Games Syndicate Cologne)
  Summit Keynote: Lars C. Grabbe (Dean, MSD – Münster School of Design, University of Applied Sciences Münster)
  Design Research and AI. Design and Knowledge in the Context of the Techno-Imaginary
  
• 06.00 pm – 06.30 pm | Coffee Break
  
• 06.30 pm – 08.00 pm | Summit: Embodied Encounters
• 06.30 pm – 07.15 pm & 07.15 pm – 08.00 pm
  Performance: VR Dance Club (Room 204)
  The Future Is Us (Interactive Audio-Dance Performance)
  
• 06.30 pm – 07.15 pm & 07.15 pm – 08.00 pm
  Workshop (Aquarium) Katharina Tillmanns (Cologne Game Lab)
  Somatic Design for Media Creators (Experiential Workshop)
  
  Thursday | September 25
  
• 09.00 am – 10.00 am | Alumni Breakfast
  
• 10.00 am – 01.30 pm | Summit: The Changing Pulse of Game Development
  
• 01.30 pm – 02.30 pm | Lunch Break
  
• 02.00 pm – 03.00 pm | CGL Alumni looking back
  
• 03.00 pm – 03.30 pm | 15 years of CGL: Björn Bartholdy (Co-founder and director of CGL)
  Everything You Always Wanted to Know About the Institute (But Were Afraid to Ask)
  
• 03.30 pm – 03.45 pm | Coffee Break
  
• 03.45 pm – 05.00 pm | Closing Keynote: Gundolf S. Freyermuth (Co-founder and former director of CGL)
  Are Game Studies Any Good? What for? And Why Not? With a Few Asides on Academia’s Global Crisis
  
• 05.00 pm – open end | Open Lab & Party