Speakers
Jona Bechtolt, Blippo+ Game & Creative Director, YACHT
Jona Bechtolt is the game and creative director of Blippo+, an alien cable TV simulator and one of the most celebrated indie games of 2025. Named to "Best Games of the Year" lists by Polygon, Kotaku, The A.V. Club, and The Guardian, Blippo+ went on to earn four nominations at the Independent Games Festival — the Seumas McNally Grand Prize, Excellence in Visual Art, Excellence in Audio, and the Nuovo Award — and took home the Herman Melville Award for Best Writing at the 15th annual New York Game Awards.
Bechtolt is also a Grammy-nominated artist and producer, and the founder of the conceptual pop group YACHT. Over two decades, YACHT’s output has spanned nine studio albums, a documentary feature, and several large-scale public art installations, all driven by Bechtolt’s fascination with subverting technology.
From unplayable compact discs to vintage clip art, he explores the intersection of play, performance, and the weird margins of media history. Most recently, his video installation TV Dinner was featured in 99CENT, a sprawling group exhibition that transformed a former 99 Cents Only store in Los Angeles.