Thomas Brandstetter studied philosophy in Vienna and has a PhD in cultural and media studies from the Bauhaus University Weimar. He worked at universities in Austria, Switzerland and Germany as a researcher in the fields of science and technology studies. Since 2022, he is a lecturer and researcher at the Department of Experimental Game Cultures at the University for Applied Arts Vienna. His main research interests are the design and cultural meaning of analogue games, especially roleplaying games and boardgames.
Artistic Games in the Tabletop Gaming Space
FROG 2026 – Talk
My presentation wants to show how analogue games, especially tabletop games, serve as mediums of artistic expression despite finding little regard in the art world.
Most of what is called game art today is done in the field of digital games. This is because media art and its network of institutions, exhibition spaces and grants is, at the moment, one of the few entry lanes for game-making into the world of art.
However, I want to show that experimental and highly innovative analogue game art and artistic games exist outside these institutions, remaining largely overlooked by galleries and museums. The huge renaissance of tabletop games during the last 15 year or so has not only led to an increase in audience and markets, but also to the emergence of a very lively scene of indie designers and publishers (similar to what happened in the sphere of video games).
First, I want to investigate how indie tabletop game designers understand themselves as artists. Who claims the label of art? What are their reasons for that? What does it tell us about their approach to game design?
Second, I want to present two case studies and show what practices and approaches are employed by those game designers. I will argue that the boardgames of Amabel Holland and the roleplaying games of Avery Alder do what is usually considered to be artistic: namely to reflect on, experiment with and break the conventions of their chosen media’s form, probe its limits and thereby create new ways of perceiving the world in- and outside of gaming.
I will address the question of why those designers chose the medium of tabletop games instead of digital games. This is not because they are luddites – the community and distribution networks of indie analogue games would be impossible without the internet, and most designers use digital tools for the creation of their games. However, analogue games allow for different experiences of sociality and tactile aesthetic experiences that offer a counterpoint to the digital environments that dominate professional life as well as leisure time for a huge swath of the population in industrialised countries.
Finally, I will make a plea for taking analogue and especially tabletop games serious as forms of artistic expression and for creating spaces for them in museums and galleries, as well as providing support structures such as grants for innovative game designers working in that area.