Smithsonian Exhibit - The Art of Video Games

[sasparilla]

So hey, since this is really the only video game-related forum I visit...

If you're in the DC/MD/VA area, the American Art Museum has opened their The Art of Video Games exhibit!! The hubby and I got a chance to check it out this past weekend, and it is FANTASTIC!!

http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2012/games/

YOU GUYS SMITHSONIAN HAS A VIDEO GAME ART EXHIBIT IN DC

As an aspiring graduate art student and gamer, I seriously got nerd boners in the first 10 feet of the gallery. I don't usually say something like that, but really didn't know how else to describe it The organizers of the exhibit did a panel at MAGFest back in January, so we've really been looking forward to it since then.

Anyway my point is, if you're in the DMV or nearby I highly recommend checking it out. It's here in DC until the end of September and then it's going on the road for a while.

[Merrymaker_Mortalis]

I have a book called "Video Game Art" where it's an essay explaining Video Games are art. The preface written by the author's old lecturer basically says "No they aren't". It made me lol.

I would still go to it however.

[TheRocket]

Dang, I'm going to have to check this out. I went to the Natural History museum this weekend to check out the Chilean Miner exhibit. It was really awesome but someone went through the emergency exit doors and the high pitched noise was so hard on my ears I had to move on.

I want to see this gamnes one, though. I remember hearing about it last year. I hope I can make it before the Annie Leibovitz exhibit is gone.

[sasparilla]

Oh! I didn't know they had a Chilean Miner exhibit - I may have to check that out.

Yeah we didn't get a whole lot of time to explore the rest of the building, I'd really like to explore more of the Portrait Gallery too. Need to find a day I can set aside and knock out a whole bunch of museum visits in one go!

That and Udvar-Hazy! Been meaning to get out there. Especially to see Discovery when they finish decommissioning her.

[plummeting_sloth]

Yep... I went 2 weeds ago. To pay MAGfest back for their kindness, they had a big presence there opening weekend. I bet next years con is going to be huge because of it.

It was an interesting exhibit, although I didn't get to spend as much time there as I would have liked due to the big crowds for opening. The bulk of the exhibit was laid out along a time-line, highlighting different examples of games from changing consoles and OS's. The examples were pretty good, I thought and there was a lot of good information there. My problem is that, for an Art of Videogames exhibit, it was presented much more as a historical exhibit then an art collection. The information drifted more towards "Here's what happened during these years" and not " Here's what the artist was trying to do/what this style means/this was part of this style movement ect...". I definitely suggest going, but anyone with a good background in videogames already might find parts of the show a bit dry.