The Art of Video Games

I'm getting excited about The Art of Video Games, opening at the Smithsonian American Art Museum on March 16. Not only am I geeky enough to be delighted by the idea of video games being exhibited in an art museum, but it's also been fun to see how SAAM has been trying to spark and sustain visitor interest. They began last year by inviting the public to vote on which games would be included in the exhibition. The best thing about it was that they weren't just gathering votes to create an "audience favorites" section that would be stuffed into an alcove or left online - these votes determined the entire content of the exhibition (visitors were able to choose the 80 games out of a choice of 240 that would be in the show).

Since then, they've been sending periodic updates by email, letting us know about the GameFest event being held for the exhibition's opening weekend, a Flickr group to share pictures of fan creations inspired by games, and the opportunity to get your name in the "credits" by donating. There are also some behind-the-scenes exhibition construction photos. I admit that I'm usually not very excited about newsletters, but I've enjoyed their emails because they only send them when they have something interesting to tell us about. And I like that they've continued to seek audience engagement, even before the exhibition opens, in ways that make sense given the presumed interests of the people they're targeting. It's easy for me to donate online, and the increments are small, with the lowest option being less than, say, a month's subscription to World of Warcraft. People who make and want to share their fan art or costumes probably already have images online, most likely on Flickr. And GameFest sounds like it could be a promising blend of a low-key convention and the kind of programs the Smithsonian museums already put on to support their shows, like film screenings, discussions, craft activities, etc.

I'm not enough of a gamer to have a sense of how these email updates and opportunities for involvement are being received by the average person who may have been interested enough to vote last year (when a number of geek-culture blogs picked up the story), but probably won't make it to the exhibition. Maybe it appeals more to people who enjoy a behind-the-scenes and/or participatory experience with a museum, and who happen to also enjoy games. Either way, it seems like an authentic and enthusiastic attempt to mesh the museum world with gaming culture - and since Georgina Goodlander is the face of this exhibition, I'm not surprised by how well thought-out it seems.