WASHINGTON, D.C. – A new exhibition on the art form known as videogames at the Smithsonian Institution is a big leap forward – for the museum.
“The Art of Video Games” opened on Friday, March 16 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. (I participated on the advisory board for the exhibition.) This isn’t the first time that videogame-related exhibits have been shown at a Smithsonian museum; the original prototypes of what would become the first home game machine are in the National Museum of American History, for example. What’s unique about this exhibition is that it is being mounted in the art museum, showcasing games as creative works as opposed to technological marvels.
I thus believe that it represents no small amount of resolve on the part of the Smithsonian Institution’s administration to go forward with such an exhibition, insofar as they were sure to invite criticism from the sort of people who reflexively say that videogames are not art and not worthy to be displayed next to paintings. (Not to mention the gamers who will complain about their favorite game not being included.) Good on the Smithsonian for deciding to place its considerable reputation behind the sensible, but still mildly controversial, idea that videogames are a respectable creative medium.
To hear a lot of people talk, you’d think that videogames had been waiting around in the ghetto, hoping that some benevolent arbiter of what is and is not art would decree them worthy. The medium is becoming so pervasive, and certain games are becoming so impactful to the people who play them, that games are steaming ahead full-blast entirely under their own power. As multiple people mentioned over the course of the weekend, we’re not that far away from having a president of the United States who grew up playing an Atari 2600. Games need not seek the approval of the ivory tower, games only have to wait.
I went to D.C. for the grand opening of The Art of Video Games. The weekend kicked off with a gala in the museum’s courtyard, at which many of the game designers whose work would be on display were in attendance. BioShock director Ken Levine and Pitfall! creator David Crane were both there; Skyrim’s Todd Howard made a beeline to Metal Gear’s Hideo Kojima to introduce himself.
The most impressive moment of the party was immediately following curator Chris Melissinos’ speech: A playable version of the Xbox 360 game Geometry Wars was projected on a massive scale right across the outside walls of the museum, the outlaw medium leaving its mark right on the face of the storied old building. (Temporarily and with permission.)