A VIDEOGAME will be developed during an exhibition which explores how the virtual worlds of gaming have changed from the mid-2000s to the present day.
Visitors to Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt, the second major exhibition at V&A Dundee, will be able to try an early version of Plaything and help shape its final development at a free day-long event for families in June.
Through displays of original designs, character development, prototypes, music and installations, the exhibition will show the range of creativity involved in making videogames, as well as offering plenty of opportunities for game play.
“Videogames are one of the most important design fields of our time, and so the exhibition looks at games in the same way we would explore any other form of design,” says Meredith More, assistant curator at V&A Dundee’s Scottish design galleries. “In addition to the games you can play within the exhibition, it’s very rich in objects. There are pin-up boards, photographs, works of art that were influential in developing the games.”
More adds: “You can see how the makers of the game Journey, which is set in a desert, experimented with running on sand to help them develop the game. The exhibition really takes apart the process and shows you how complex and interesting that process is.”
Following the exhibition’s original run at V&A London, Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt has been rebooted for Dundee to reflect the city’s strong links with the games industry. Lemmings and Grand Theft Auto were both created in Dundee, and today the city’s 4J Studios produce the console versions of Minecraft.
The city’s Abertay University launched the world’s first degree in computer games technology in the 1990s and the university plays a key role in the exhibition.
Plaything, V&A Dundee’s first videogames commission, is supported by InGAME, a partnership with Abertay, while new games designed by a lecturer and a graduate of the university will be showcased in a section of the exhibition looking at the work of independent developers.
Hummingbird, a game by art and games lecturer Niall Moody, and If Found, Please Return, by graduate Llaura McGee, will be shown in bespoke arcade cabinets designed by Edinburgh production and installation studio We Throw Switches.
In May, Andrew Dyce and Craig Fairweather, the duo behind We Throw Switches, will host Tay Late, a one-off evening event showcasing the latest in Scottish and international games and offering multi-player party games and other interactive experiences.
The curator says events, talks and activities celebrating videogames from a range of perspectives will accompany the six-month duration of the exhibition, with tickets available from April 1.
Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt focuses on a shift in technology in the mid-2000s which opened up access to games-making to a wider group of designers and developers.
THE exhibition’s breadth stretches from small games made by just one individual to big blockbuster games such as Bloodborne and The Last Of Us made by squads of people over months.
“The exhibition also champions the role of players and how that can be quite transformative,” says More. “We are showing some of the amazing creations that people have made in Minecraft. In addition, there is a whole section of the show called politics and code, which explores some of the contemporary debates around videogames and how women and people from ethnic minorities have tried to challenge some of the tropes that people associate with games.”
More adds: “The exhibition is quite deliberate in its choices and where it thinks videogames are going in the future. It’s really challenging what people’s perceptions might be of games.”
Excitement is growing for show says More, who notes how Ursula Kam-Ling Cheng, an illustrator based in Glasgow, is about to start creating a light-reflective mural in the gallery inspired by virtual worlds.
Those who wish to take part in the development of Plaything will not be required to visit in person, she says.
“The game itself will be available to play online, so you’ll be able to access it wherever you are,” she says. “That way people from the rest of Scotland and all over the world can have input, and that reflects the local and international aspects of the exhibition too.”
April 20 to September 8, V&A Dundee, 10am to 5pm, £6 to £12. Tel: 01382 411 611. Tickets: www.vam.ac.uk/dundee/videogames #DesignPlayDisrupt
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