Dearest Ladies and Germs,
I confess this is less an article than a whole-hearted plug for you to get excited about a genuinely cool event that I think is going to have a positive impact on all of us. No, I’m not talking about the release of Larry Crowne. This is bigger, bolder and better than any movie about Tom Hanks on a scooter could ever be.
Less than a year from now, the Smithsonian American Art Museum (!!) in Washington, DC will be hosting an exhibit called “The Art of Video Games”. You heard me right! You can now officially STFU, Roger Ebert.
When I’d first heard about this a year or so ago I was excited, but cautiously so. My worry was that this was some sort of cheap ploy by the Smithsonian muckety-mucks to generate interest among “young people” for their museums and programs. I was anxious it would be run in a top-down way by people who know little about video games and, more importantly in my opinion, video game/gamer culture. In short, I thought a patrician, “establishment” institution like the Smithsonian would fuck it up, in the same way the mainstream news media seems to fuck up coverage of video games seemingly every single time out of the gate.
But my fears have been allayed- game technology guru Chris Mellisinos is curating the exhibit, and the Smithsonian put it up to a public vote which 40 games would be featured in the show (from an initial shortlist drawn up by Mellisinos). I was satisfied, and my cynicism was put to rest. This should be the real deal.
I am particularly psyched for this exhibit because I think this truly represents a sea change in the level of respect video games are accorded by society at large. I recently spoke to a friend’s Dad, and told him that USC film school had opened a video game development program (the Interactive division). He laughed at this, as if it were the most foolish thing in the world. (I bit my lip.) I feel like this sort of dismissive, condescending attitude will soon be a thing of the past- and I think this exhibit will make great strides at getting us there. To me, the fact that the vaunted Smithsonian (as “establishment” as it gets) is putting on a video game art exhibit is a stunning rebuke to Roger Ebert and his side in this particular little culture war.
Anyway, I feel like it’s my patriotic duty as a gamer to go check out this show, and I hope it gets as much vocal, in-person support from the gaming community as humanly possible (that’s where you come in). It’s early yet, but mark your calendars: “The Art of Video Games” will run from March 16 to September 30, 2012.
For more info, here’s the exhibit’s website:
http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2012/games/
Check out the list of games chosen by the public for inclusion:
http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2012/games/winninggames.pdf
