In recent years we have witnessed an explosion of interest from museums and cultural institutions in video games. Major museums and galleries across the world are now organising video game exhibitions. Very few people would argue against considering video games an art form. However, video games are also a huge industry worth $120 billion and a way of popular culture that brings visitors to exhibitions. The gaming industry is going through lots of changes, and everyone is trying to cash in including museums.

Here, I’m putting together a small selection of the most recent video game exhibitions. It’s not an exhaustive list but I will try to make as complete as possible.

Gameplay

19 December 2019 – 3 May 2020 CCCB in Barcelona.

Gameplay looks into the origins of video games analyses their language and highlights the impact they have had on popular digital culture and on art and society. The exhibition is designed as a space for recreation and reflection where visitors can play and (re)discover video game culture.

Besides many historical games “Gameplay” features works by artists such as Mary Flanagan, Joan Leandre, Harun Farocki, Lawrence Lek, LaTurbo Avedon, Mónica Rikić and Blast Theory.

The selected artists are very interesting. For instance, the British collective Blast Theory covers with their works so many aspects of gaming culture. Led by artists Matt Adams, Ju Row Farr and Nick Tandavanitj, the collective creates interactive art that puts the audience at the centre of the work. Since 1991, they have been using interactive media to create groundbreaking new forms of performance and interactive art that mixes audiences across the internet, live performance and digital broadcasting. Drawing on popular culture, technology and games, their work often blurs the boundaries between the real and the fictional.

Mónica Rikić is a young new media artist and creative coder from Barcelona. She creates interactive projects that often can be framed as experimental games, aiming to go beyond the game itself combining it with a broader sense of installation. She is particularly interested in the social aspects and the impact of technology, also in how human and machine can coexist and finding ways for everyone to own technological systems and devices, by manipulating and rethinking them through art.

Mary Flanagan is a renowned artist and academic. She is interested in human relationships with systems — technological, representational, linguistic, natural, social. In her research, she explores the relationships between technological systems, play, and human experience. Systems and their intersections with aspects of daily life are particularly interesting to her, therefore, games, computer viruses, search engines, email, ordinary things, become revealing artefacts.

With 28 game points, from the first arcade and historic computer games to the new immersive options, in “Gameplay” visitors can play and, at the same time, understand video game culture from a critical viewpoint.

The exhibition is an extended adaptation of “Gameplay. The Next Level”, designed by and first presented at the ZKM Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe.

Curators: Jérôme Nguyen, Óliver Pérez Latorre

Videojuegos. Los dos lados de la pantalla

25 septiembre 2019 – 12 enero 2020. Espacio Fundación Teléfonica Madrid.

Explore the boundaries between the physical and the virtual worlds on a journey through the videogame industry, in which we delve into its economic, socio-cultural, scientific implications and even its most artistic side. Exhibition curated by Eurídice Cabañes.

Through a playable space, Videogames. The two sides of the screen invite visitors to reflect on some relevant issues such as what impact do video games have on our brain? or how do they push boundaries across other areas, technologies and ways of life?
Visitors were able to interact with the installation Create your avatar and play 8 other videogames, including Panoramical, Line Wobbler, Perfect Woman or Flippaper.

The influence of video games goes far beyond what we can imagine. They are one of the most successful, massive and ubiquitous forms of entertainment in our society, the impact of video games is not limited to their economic impact, but they have become one of the main socializing agents of the 21st century. Therefore, they have the power to perpetuate discriminatory behaviours or to tackle inequality.

Through several sections, the exhibition addresses the complex and fascinating relationship between the physical and virtual worlds: how we perpetuate the stereotypes of our society in the digital sphere, how we build alternative identities and communities that inhabit video games or how we can transform our environment through reflections that take place on the screen. The exhibition also dedicates a space to eSports , a mass phenomenon that generates annual audiences of about 385 million viewers.

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Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt

8 September 2018 to 24 February 2019 Victoria and Albert Museum London

This major exhibition provided a unique insight into the design process behind a selection of contemporary videogames. Design work including concept art and prototypes featured alongside large-scale immersive installations and interactives. It was a success in terms of visitors critics and media cover.

The exhibition showcased major achievements of one of the most significant design fields of our time, investigating the work of groundbreaking designers, creative player communities and the critical conversations that define the medium today.

Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt explores the medium since the mid-2000s, when major technological advancements, such as increased access to broadband, social media, smart phones and newly available means of making, profoundly changed the way videogames are designed, discussed and played. This change has opened the door to new voices and ideas, allowing the medium to break beyond its perceived boundaries and aspire to new horizons.

Curated by Marie Foulston the exhibition had 3 main sections Design/Play/Disrupt.

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