Saturday afternoon, Syracuse University will host its first ever Geek Art CONfluence, a one-day celebration of geek culture.

The convention will showcase artists and comics from local universities and some members involved in SU’s student organizations. The panels will discuss the influence, history and identity of geek culture, along with values of the culture. The event will be held at the SUArt Galleries in the Shaffer Art Building on Oct. 5 from 1 to 5 p.m.

Chris Wildrick, the SU professor who organized this event, added that the CONfluence will aim to emphasize the artistry found in geek culture, such as creating costumes.

“I’m especially interested in the creativity, skill and vision that fans have, and the amazing products and activities they engage in,” Wildrick said in an email.

Benjamin Judkins, a professor at Cornell University, will be hosting the “Jedi Knight Identity” panel. He said in an email there will be two sessions that will feature student papers and research, while the other two will focus on faculty. He added that the entire event combines a “mini-comicon” with cosplayers and artists, and broadly examines different approaches in popular and geek culture.

In Judkins’ panel he will discuss the values in the hyper-real martial arts, he said. He will focus on the Lightsaber Combat Community in relation to real combat practices that draw from fictional pieces. For example, he said the practice of martial arts and the construction of identity ties together.

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This also expands to a professional level, he said, because art is involved in the making of video games, table games, movies, TV shows and comic books. Because of this, visitors will learn new ways to appreciate the work they’ve seen before.

But video games are different than other arts, said Erin Elliott, the president of SU’s Game Club, in an email. She added that video games allow participants to engage with another world in ways other art forms cannot. Also, other art can be analyzed through artistic design, Elliot said, and in video games, story design and music form, can all be analyzed.

Judkins said the event has something for everyone.
“It’s a nice example of not just interdisciplinary discussions,” he said, “but really trying to push the bounds of engagement between theory and practice on a subject that everyone loves.”

Elliott added that geek culture gives students the chance to connect with people with the same interests and has introduced her to different kinds of people from different backgrounds,

“I think to me there’s two main things about geek culture that makes it special: acceptance and debate,” she said. “Sure, there’s some prejudice, but at its core I’ve found geeks to be the most accepting people who don’t judge based on first impressions.”

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Published on October 2, 2019 at 11:42 pm

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