Five years after graduating with a Master’s in Digital Arts & New Media (DANM) Jordan Magnuson (M.A. ’19, DANM) won a Fulbright scholarship to continue his work on video game poems. Now living in Bergen, Norway with his family, Magnuson is flexing his creative skills and teaching.
Magnuson started making video games over a decade ago. His work is minimalistic, often exploring abstract ideas through short playtimes. They became his creative passion in his free time, but Magnuson still struggled for a way to talk about his games in a way that felt accurate. Then he came to UC Santa Cruz.
“That’s actually part of why I ended up doing my MFA in the DANM program,” says Magnuson. “I already had this art practice going back quite a while, but a big part of it was wanting to find some language to try to talk about what I was doing.” During his time in grad school Magnuson looked into lyric poetry as a way of explaining his games. He tried to draw similarities (besides language) between the two including length and subject matter.
Another draw to UC Santa Cruz was the ability to do interdisciplinary research, whereas similar programs only offer one track of study. “The fact that it wasn’t housed in one department, it was a collaboration between different departments in the school, that’s really what attracted me to that program.” Magnuson’s MFA thesis ended up being so long that he turned it into a book, Game Poems: Videogame Design as Lyric Practice (Amherst College Press, 2023).
In the years since he graduated video game design has stayed a side project for Magnuson. He makes most of his money through a web business he runs with his partner. Keeping his art separate from his income has had advantages. “I’ve often appreciated the freedom that comes from not making my art pay for anything,” says Magnuson. “I make these totally weird, non monetizable, little video games.”
With his Fulbright scholarship Magnuson now has the opportunity to explore his work in a meaningful way, without worries about financial backing. When applying for the program Magnuson wanted to go to Norway because it’s where his ancestry is. He grew up in Minnesota hearing stories about his Scandinavian heritage, and feels like going to Norway is a homecoming.
Along with emphasizing video game poems in his life, Magnuson will also be taking on a teaching role at the University of Bergen where he’ll be working closely with UiB’s Digital Culture program and the Center for Digital Narrative. His focus will be on interactive media and poetry and where the two align.
Magnuson’s Fulbright will extend through the end of the 2024-2025 academic year. The games he makes will add to the growing list of incredible work done by fellow alumni focusing on interdisciplinary projects and cultural exploration.