The Art of Video Games
Video games have grown to become an increasingly important medium for entertainment, education, exploration, discovery, and storytelling in modern society. With the “Art of Video Games Exhibition”, scheduled to open in March of 2012 at the Smithsonian American Art Museum located in Washington, DC, we will present the opportunity to examine video games as an artistic form and witness their evolution over time.
The exhibition will demonstrate how games are directly informed by technology progression, societal reflection, and shifting popular culture. They are a mirror of the human condition; allowing us to participate in a narrative, theme or environment, born out of the imagination and insight of the new story tellers of our time. A medium that is still in its infancy, video games have, none the less, cemented their place in society as one of the most expressive, dynamic and powerful canvases of expression in the past century.
This exhibition will celebrate that medium.
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Click here for the museum’s web page for the exhibition
Advisory Group
An industry Advisory Group has been set up to offer insight, information, guidance and suggestions to us as we create the exhibition. The intent of having an Advisory Group is to allow the industry to have a collective voice in the process. This exhibition is not meant to be a “Chris’s Picks Over 40 Years” (although, I could easily do this!), but, rather, to be something that represents the creative vision of the industry as a whole.
Click here to view the Advisory Group Members
Exhibition Team
Chris Melissinos – Guest Curator
Georgina Bath Goodlander – Interpretive Programs Manager, Smithsonian American Art Museum
Georgina Bath Goodlander has served as the Interpretive Programs Manager of the Luce Foundation Center for American Art since 2006, and she currently is the project manager for the exhibition The Art of Video Games, which opens at the museum March 16, 2012.
Goodlander is responsible for all operations of the Luce Foundation Center, including developing a regular schedule of public programs, updating interpretative information, maintaining audiovisual installations, coordinating the selection and installation of collection objects in cases in the Center, and supervising staff. She oversaw the creation of audio tours for the Center, with more than 180 stops that can be accessed through a visitor’s cell phone, iTunes or free MP3 players available at the Center’s information desk. It allows visitors to leave voice comments and “bookmark” objects of interest.
In 2008, the museum was the first in the world to host an alternate reality game, Ghosts of a Chance, which offered a new way of engaging with the collection by integrating the use of mobile and fixed Web platforms with traditional media and experiences in the galleries. Goodlander managed the creation and implementation of this game and developed a module version, which is available to the public on a regular basis. Goodlander is working on a new game, titled “PHEON,” which is in development. In 2009, Goodlander received the Smithsonian’s first annual Secretary’s Award for Excellence for Innovative Spirit.
Goodlander is also seldom without her Nintendo DS Lite.
