I've been thinking about the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards (an international art contest) and I happened upon the idea of submitting a .osu file to it in its "Future New" category.
https://www.artandwriting.org/what-we-do/the-awards/categories/#57
"The Future New category asks students to produce work that challenges the boundaries of the Scholastic Awards’ current categories. Future New means on the cutting edge of creative practice. Work submitted to this category should address the issues and concerns of our time through conceptual, social, or political content. Work can be executed as—but is not limited to—installation art, performance art*, interactive text, sound art, re-purposed materials, or new and applied technologies. Along with the work, the student must submit a written statement that describes in detail the processes used to create the work and/or relevant content that situates the work as innovative. A Future New work must be both thought-provoking and reflect creative excellence."
Perhaps osu! beatmaps fit in this category because they do show skills stemming from the beatmap creator. Skills which overlap with the other categories as it is a kind of specialized "Design" inside a "Video Game." It gives creative expression to mappers to decide when and where to place circles and sliders with respect to music and anticipating that others will have to play or spectate them. I feel that this is a unique enough nuanced practice to earn it artistic merit, though subject matter ought to be a bit more relevant, which can be fixed with an apt song.
This leaves me with a few smaller questions that I thought I'd ask.
Are .osu files property of PPY? And to what extent do mappers own their creations? Let's assume music copyright isn't an issue; if need be, one could write their own music.
Are osu! beatmaps art? If it could win, would the higher-ups of osu! be okay with it being featured in a museum for a short period of time?
https://www.artandwriting.org/what-we-do/the-awards/categories/#57
"The Future New category asks students to produce work that challenges the boundaries of the Scholastic Awards’ current categories. Future New means on the cutting edge of creative practice. Work submitted to this category should address the issues and concerns of our time through conceptual, social, or political content. Work can be executed as—but is not limited to—installation art, performance art*, interactive text, sound art, re-purposed materials, or new and applied technologies. Along with the work, the student must submit a written statement that describes in detail the processes used to create the work and/or relevant content that situates the work as innovative. A Future New work must be both thought-provoking and reflect creative excellence."
Perhaps osu! beatmaps fit in this category because they do show skills stemming from the beatmap creator. Skills which overlap with the other categories as it is a kind of specialized "Design" inside a "Video Game." It gives creative expression to mappers to decide when and where to place circles and sliders with respect to music and anticipating that others will have to play or spectate them. I feel that this is a unique enough nuanced practice to earn it artistic merit, though subject matter ought to be a bit more relevant, which can be fixed with an apt song.
This leaves me with a few smaller questions that I thought I'd ask.
Are .osu files property of PPY? And to what extent do mappers own their creations? Let's assume music copyright isn't an issue; if need be, one could write their own music.
Are osu! beatmaps art? If it could win, would the higher-ups of osu! be okay with it being featured in a museum for a short period of time?