The Smithsonian Institution has announced that they will be opening a new exhibit called The Art of Video Games on March 16, 2012 at the American Art Museum in Washington, D.C.. The exhibit which fill feature games that were visually or technologically groundbreaking. And best of all, they’ve invited you, the people, to vote on what you’d like to see.
To vote, head over to the Art of Video Games website. There, you can login and choose 80 games from a slate of 240 chosen by an advisory group of gaming insiders and exhibit curator Chris Melissinos, whom you may have heard of from events like PAX or his Past Pixels project.
Voting aside, the exhibit will focus on games the defined, or radically changed, the understanding of gaming. From the Smithsonian website:
The exhibition will feature some of the most influential artists and designers during five eras of game technology, from early developers such as David Crane and Warren Robinett to contemporary designers like Kellee Santiago and David Jaffe. It also will explore the many influences on game designers, and the pervasive presence video games have in the broader popular culture, with new relationships to video art, film and television, educational practices, and professional skill training.
And the show won’t be all still images, or looping videos. It’s focused on games, so they have five that you can play for a set period of time at the exhibit: Pac-Man, Super Mario Brothers, The Secret of Monkey Island, Myst, and World of Warcraft.
It’s great to see a museum, and one so respected as the Smithsonian, give games this much attention. Moreover, because it is a Smithsonian museum, the show is free of charge. Hopefully this will get lots of people in the door, and maybe showcase the best of video gaming to those who don’t know of the staggering potential offered by the medium.
See you in D.C..
(Smithsonian via Engadget, image via Pak Gwei)
