The illustrious Modern Museum of Art (MoMA) announced this morning that they have proudly obtained 14 video games for their upcoming video game art collection, scheduled to go on display in March 2013. Thus far, they have the following treasures for their display:
- Pac-Man (1980)
- Tetris (1984)
- Another World (1991)
- Myst (1993)
- SimCity 2000 (1994)
- vib-ribbon (1999)
- The Sims (2000)
- Katamari Damacy (2004)
- EVE Online (2003)
- Dwarf Fortress (2006)
- Portal (2007)
- flOw (2006)
- Passage (2008)
- Canabalt (2009)
Their goal is to acquire 40 specific games for the collection, and amongst their wishes include Spacewar! (1962), Pong (1972), Space Invaders (1978), Zork (1979), Donkey Kong (1981), Marble Madness (1984), Super Mario Bros. (1985), The Legend of Zelda (1986), and Minecraft (2011).
"Are video games art? They sure are, but they are also design, and a design approach is what we chose for this new foray into this universe," Paola Antonelli, Senior Curator in the Department of Architecture and Design of MoMA said on the MoMA website. "The games are selected as outstand examples of interaction design—a field that MoMA has already explored and collected extensively, and one of the most important and oft-discussed expressions of contemporary design creativity."
"As with all other design objects in MoMA’s collection, from posters to chairs to cars to fonts, curators seek a combination of historical and cultural relevance, aesthetic expression, functional and structural soundness, innovative approaches to technology and behavior, and a successful synthesis of materials and techniques in achieving the goal set by the initial program," she continued. "This is as true for a stool or a helicopter as it is for an interface or a video game, in which the programming language takes the place of the wood or plastics, and the quality of the interaction translates in the digital world what the synthesis of form and function represent in the physical one."
I don't think I could have explained why video games are art any better.
MoMA has been well known for its crazy, "Is that really art?" collections, so it will be interesting to say the least to see how this collection is received by the non-gaming masses.
What games would you like to see in this collection?
