A.D. 2012, The Art of Video Games exhibit in Washington D.C.
If the world won’t end before with a huge and yet wee galactic fart, in 2012 there is a date to pin down on the agenda for who will be lucky enough to be around Washington D.C. In the United States capital city, and more exactly at the prestigious Smithsonian American Art Museum, the exhibit The Art of Video Games will be held between March 16 and September 9, 2012, a systematic, interactive and visually rich journey centered on the history of the first 40 years of the videogaming medium.
“Video games“, the exhibit introduction on the museum’s site says, “have grown to become a significant part of our culture since the introduction of the first home video games in the early 1970s. More than seventy percent of American households play video games on a regular basis, and many families now have two generations of computer users, and gamers, at home“. The exhibit is clearly aimed at the American public first of all, but considering the penetration levels of interactive entertainment worldwide and the typically cosmopolitan dimension of its development and fruition one can be sure about the universal interest of the event.
Just some days ago I was hinting at Braid, and the fact that classifying the little masterpiece by Jonathan Blow as “art” isn’t that groundless after all even for who like me would be inclined to not to give any artistic value to video games - despite I’ve played them 20 years so far, of course. In the ongoing debate on electronic games and art the Washington’s Smithsonian sides with no doubts by stating that “in the same way as film, animation, and performance, they can be considered a compelling and influential form of narrative art“.
“Video games use images, actions, and player participation to tell stories and engage their audiences“, the museum’s site says, and whether other institutes have already explored video games inspired art in the past the Smithsonian exhibition will be “the first to examine comprehensively the evolution of video games themselves as an artistic medium“. From the venerable Atari VCS/2600 up to the PlayStation 3 (and the Xbox 360 and the Wii, I would suggest), “The Art of Video Games will show the development of visual effects and aesthetics during four decades, the emergence of games as a means for storytelling, the influence of world events and popular culture on game development, and the impact that the games can have on society“.
Directed by the videogame industry expert and PastPixels founder Chris Melissinos, The Art of Video Games exhibit will place at the public’s disposal passive materials (video clips of in-game phases, interviews with developers and artists, “large prints of in-game screen shots“, historic game consoles) next to a part where visitors will be directly involved thanks to “a selection of working game systems” to try an play with. Seeing the exhibit matter it couldn’t be otherwise, and the museum plans to further involve the public by asking for help “with the selection of materials for the show by choosing the games that they feel best represent particular moments in the overall timeline“.
The Art of Video Games is clearly part of the growing interest for video games shown by cultural institutes worldwide, their preservation and presentation as an expression of something more than the “simple” business of a multi-billionaire industry which tends to burn quickly (and wrongly) what it produces. Institutes like the Library of Congress in USA, the National Media Museum in UK or the Archivio Videoludico of Cineteca di Bologna in Italy to which goes the merit to have paved the way to a higher profile esteem of the videogaming medium and its importance for popular culture on the whole.
Related posts
- Videogames highlights - March 2012
- Videogames highlights - February 2012
- Videogames highlights - January 2012
- Video Games History, the Italian retrogaming event
- Video games, museums and theme parks
- National Videogame Archive, the historical consciousness of digital culture
- Good Old Games, first use impressions
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