Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt (Review) (original) (raw)
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Display Mode: Exhibiting Video Games as Art, History
New Art Examiner, 2019
“Are video games art?” The frequency with which that question has been posed over the past decade belies the wholly unsatisfactory nature of the responses. Although the classification of what we mean by video games has not remained categorically uncomplicated, the crux of the debate has largely lain, instead, with fairly banal epistemologies of art. At the extremes, art critics have derided video games as lacking the sophistication, depth, or even “soul” of works by such strawmen as Picasso and Van Gogh. Game designers and industry professionals, in turn, have accused such critics of being uninformed outsiders and Luddites unable to appreciate the ways technology has revolutionized art’s expressive potential on a popular level. (…) even though the institutional answer to this is question is patently unsatisfying, the conditions and rhetorics of the display of video games in exhibitions and museums have something important to tell us about ingrained understandings of art, science, culture, and industry, as well as those categories’ shifting hierarchies. In short, though exhibitions can only tell us that games are art in the least-interesting ways possible, they can tell us rather a lot about how they are art when encountered in “display mode.”
Video Games As Objects Of Art: Revival Of The Play-Element In Contemporary Artistic Practice (2012)
Ac tA Ac A de m i A e A rt i u m V i l n e nsis / 67 2 012 A RT A N D PL AY Art and play are two fundamental characteristics of humans. Being comparably important, the two notions are strongly interconnected -something that is not only longstanding but has also been carefully observed. Hayden Ramsay notes: "As thinkers from Aristotle onwards have noted, part of the benefit of artistic performances is the opportunity to express and explore powerful emotions and beliefs in safer and more con-This paper examines creative uses of video games. The starting point of the article is an observation of the inherent interconnection between play and art. The demise of the play element, as observed by
Play on display: the exhibition of videogames in the museum
2010
This thesis examines the exhibition of videogames in major cultural institutions. The focus is on the curatorial narratives presented by differing exhibitions, specifically the context in which the works are ‘framed’. Of particular interest is the extent to which context supports the interpretation of videogames as cultural artefacts. It will consider how differing approaches to display can construct videogames as activities and/or as artefacts. This analysis provides an understanding of the narratives that are currently being generated from the display of games in these institutional environments. Through their displays, museums and galleries organise collections into narratives, into recognisable histories and into doctrines, mediating the relationship between visitor and objects. These narratives have historically been embraced as culturally legitimising and authenticating. What can it mean to exhibit videogames in the museum? What can the museum learn from exhibiting videogames?
2016
In 2014 Videogames in the Museum [1] engaged with creative practitioners, games designers, curators and museums professionals to debate and explore the challenges of collecting and exhibiting videogames and games design. Discussions around authorship in games and games development, the transformative effect of the gallery on the cultural reception and significance of videogames led to the exploration of participatory modes and playful experiences that might more effectively expose the designer's intent and enhance the nature of our experience as visitors and players. In proposing a participatory mode for the exhibition of videogames this article suggests an approach to exhibition and event design that attempts to resolve tensions between traditions of passive consumption of curated collections and active participation in meaning making using theoretical models from games analysis and criticism and the conceit of game and museum spaces as analogous rules based environments.
2020
This paper contributes to the developing body of videogame exhibition knowledge by evaluating the methods utilised within informal and formal contexts of videogames exhibition from the perspective of reception theory. The study of both large-scale exhibitions such as those by the Victoria and Albert museum and the Smithsonian American Art Museum alongside the one-night indie game night is a unique contribution to the field, with studies typically focussing on one given context. Reception theory and the hermeneutic circle provide lenses through which the active participative role of the player/reader in meaning-making can be evaluated. Exhibition method analysis across formal and informal contexts allows modelling of a connection between the need for player/reader specialist knowledge and the resulting co-participation in meaning-making possible. These models suggest the ways that exhibition methods and settings can shape audience profiles and the potential for co-participation. The ...
Serious Games for Exhibition Contexts: Limitations and Design Decisions
Handbook of Research on Serious Games as Educational, 2012
In contrast to developing home versions of educational games, the development of games for museums and exhibitions is faced with specific limitations and requirements. Thus, the game designer has to consider restrictions concerning not only its content and learning objectives, which need to be related to the exhibition, but also the limited time available for playing and for understanding its mechanics, as well as restrictions due to the game’s location in the exhibition. Furthermore, typical problems related to serious games must be considered, such as creating both an educational and engaging experience for players. The authors’ recommendations presented in this chapter refer to experiences made in two case studies performed by Digital Media Master’s students of the University of Applied Sciences Bremerhaven, Germany. Relevant design decisions of these two projects are illustrated and discussed, especially with respect to the limitations of exhibition environments. Authors conclude that if digital technologies are well balanced with the physical environment, a profitable combination between an interactive game and a traditional exhibition can enrich the overall visitor experience.
Game as Art: a matter of Design
(Published at Videojogos 2010) As claimed by Chris Crawford in 1984, games must evolve to a potential form of art. Over 30 years later, the discussion demands a more mature state of the art, since games are still seen mostly as entertainment products. Considering them as a direct heir of cinema, in terms of language and dispositive parameters, games may be seen as a new form of media, and thus a vehicle both to entertainment activity than to artistic expression. To explore such possibilities, it is necessary to re-think the means of production and to purpose a new model of collaborative work that involves technicians, scholars, and artists.
“’No paraphernalia, no nostalgia’: Decoding MoMA’s New Video Game Gallery.”
Raiford Guins is an Associate Professor of Culture and Technology at Stony Brook University. His research on the history of video games seeks to draw closer relationships with the fields of Design History and Design Culture. In his most recent book, Game After: A Cultural Study of Video Game Afterlife (MIT Press, 2014), he investigates the emerging strategies of collecting and displaying video games within museums as well as the role that artifacts play in the documentation of game history. In this interview by Matt Ferranto, Guins shares his thoughts on the Museum of Modern Art's (MoMA) video game exhibition.