[ Online narrative game ]
Tropical America fuses the new world of video games to a compelling past through a journey to unravel the mysteries of the Americas. Developed in collaboration with Los Angeles artists, teachers, writers and high school students, the game features a bilingual, thematic gameplay, accompanied by an online database of educational resource materials, source texts and imagery. A collaboration with OnRamp Arts, 2002.
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The game was produced as part of a media literacy program working with Title I high school students around issues of violence and games, funded primarily by the Department of Education. OnRamp Arts worked with local artists and students from Belmont High School to produce a series of projects, which culminated in Tropical America.
Inspired by the similarly titled mural by David Alfaro Siqueiros- subsequently whitewashed in Los Angeles in 1932- Tropical America explores the causes and effects of the erasure of history. From the battles of Bolivar, to the single-crop economy of Cuba, the myth of El Dorado and the poems of Sor Juana de la Cruz, Tropical America reveals a forgotten terrain, the birthplace of contemporary cross-cultural life.
The story of Rufina Amaya, sole survivor of the 1981 massacre of El Mozote in El Salvador, becomes the contextual anchor for Tropical America, and the impetus from which the game begins. El Mozote symbolizes the silencing of one people’s histories and the perseverance of its survivors to bring the events into the open.
Game archived on the Rhizome ArtBase:
http://archive.rhizome.org/artbase/27732/tropicalamerica/index.html
Feature with Charles Osgood, CBS radio
A Project of OnRamp Arts © 2002 | |
Project Funders: This collaboration has been generously supported by the U.S. Department of Education in conjunction with the National Endownment for the Arts, and through the Arts in Education Partnership of the California Arts Council. Belmont High School Student Participants: Carlos Alvarez Melissa Arevalo Mel Arrozal Rocio Astorga Socorro Bautista Zidartha Boquilla Lisa Burgos Rosa Calero Carolina Cano María Casique Ana Castro Suelem Alicia Chajón Enrique Cueva Serena Douzingriseth Evelyn Fuentes Dimas Galindo Jaime Gamero Rey De Gante Maricela Gil Maritza Gomez Mercedes Gomez Jacqueline Guevara Elvis Guzman Carlos Ernesto Jirón Oscar Larrainzar Dorothy Lazo Guadalupe Lopez Elvia Lopez Luz Medrano Maritza Mendoza Jamie Molina Mariely Molina Isi Ramon Irene Rodriguez Michael Edgar Tordilla Roxana Tzul Jose Valle Luis Valle Luis Vasquez Jose Villela | Producer: Stephen Metts Directors: Juan Devis Jessica Irish Art Director: Jessica Irish Writer: Juan Devis Graphic Artist: Artemio Rodriguez Production Associates: Michelle Knutson Gian Derivi-Castellanos Sound Designers: Catasonic Database Programmer: John Byrne Flash Consultant: Mark Carolin Press Contact: Kimberly King-Burns Convergenz Print Designer: Eric Singley Research Assistants: Irene Rodriguez Lisa Burgos Outreach Intern: Jose Torres Teacher Coordinators: Yolanda Salazar Gary Kelly Ron Melin Belmont High School Travel and Tourism Academy Visiting Artists: Salomon Huerta Norman Klein Eddo Stern Mario Bencastro Yucef Mehri Partnership Coordinator: Barbara Golding Los Angeles Educational Partnership Organizational Partners: Los Angeles Educational Partnership LA Unified School District’s Belmont High School Travel and Tourism Program Special Thanks: UCLA ArtsBridge Program, CARECEN, Dana Whitco, Anne Bray, Clara Ocampo, friends and supporters of OnRamp Arts. |