On 31 July, 1 and 2 August 2019, the Museum of Contemporary Art of the Republic of Srpska staged a unique event, Gaming Nights @ MSURS, for video game aficionados.

For three consecutive days, from 6 p.m. to 10 p.m., the MSURS gathered different generations, the young and the old alike, dwellers of both the offline and online worlds, who took part in creative and educational events aimed at strengthening ties between art and gaming. The events were part of the programme accompanying the Games&Politics exhibition, a result of the collaboration between the Goethe Institute and the ZKM / Center for Art and Media.

Jam It, held on 31 July, was the first of the series of events, with Fortnite, one of today’s most popular video games, at centre stage. Under the guidance of the Kuvo TV crew, the participants were put into teams and competed for the best bridge design in Fortnite.

The second event, held under the name Test it on 1 August, was an opportunity for visitors to enjoy a range of exciting video games, as well as to test and choose the most engrossing one from up to five different games. The assorted games address major social and political issues in an innovative way or feature an outstanding artistic concept, aesthetics and design.

Share It, staged at the Museum on 2 August, was the final event of the series. The game played on the third night, the popular Minecraft, attracted the youngest gamers, as one of the most beloved and successful video games ever.

After the best gamers were presented with awards, a panel was held at the MSURS. The panel, titled Gaming: Art, entertainment, or a new industry?, discussed several issues: the gaming industry as a serious phenomenon, not only entertainment; video games as a new form of art; digital culture; the new digital society generation and educating the young to fully benefit from IT.

The panel brought together Siniša Marčić, Assistant Minister of Science and Technology of the Republic of Srpska, Tatjana Vučić, director of the Bit Alliance association of IT companies Association, Sergej Sliško, Kuvo TV, Zoran Gojić, director of Bravo Studio, and Sarita Vujković, PhD, director of MSURS.

Gaming Nights @ MSURS was staged in association with the Bit Alliance association of IT companies, Kuvo TV, a unique regional gaming project to bring shortly something brand new to the local gaming, esport and media scene, the Goethe Institute in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the Bravo Systems.