MoMA Acquires 14 Video Games for Architecture and Design Collection

27/02/2013. MoMA. [NY] USA. 01/03/2013
metalocus, JOSÉ JUAN BARBA

On Friday, March 1st, the Museum of Modern Art will hold a press viewing from 1:00-3:00pm for Applied Design, which features 14 newly acquired video games on view for the first time.

Dwarf Fortress (Detail). Tarn Adams (American, born 1978) and Zach Adams (American, born 1975). 2006. Video game. Gift of the designers. © 2012 Tarn Adams.

Tetris. Alexei Pajitonov (Russian, born 1955). 1984. Video game. Gift of The Tetris Company, LLC. © 2012 The Tetris Company, LLC.

flOw. Jenova (Xinghan) Chen (Chinese, born 1981) and Nick Clark (American, born 1984). Publisher: thatgamecompany. 2007. Video game. Gift of Jenova Chen, Nick Clark, and Austin Wintory of thatgamecompany. © 2012 thatgamecompany.

Vib-Ribbon. Masaya Matsuura (Japanese, born 1961). Publisher: Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. 1997-1999. video game. Gift of Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. © 1999 Sony Computer Entertainment Inc.

Pac-Man. Toru Iwatani (Japanese, born 1955). Publisher: NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. 1980-1981. Video game. Gift of NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. © 2012 NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.

SimCity 2000. Will Wright (American, born 1960). Publisher: Electronic Arts. 1989. Video game. Gift of Electronic Arts. © 2012 Electronic Arts.

The Sims. Will Wright (American, born 1960). Publisher: Electronic Arts. 2000. Video game. Gift of Electronic Arts. © 2012 Electronic Arts.

Eve Online. CCP Games (Iceland, est. 1997). 2003. Video game. Gift of CCP hf. © 2012 CCP hf.

Portal. Valve (USA, est. 1996). 2005-2007. video game. Gift of Valve. © 2012 Valve.

Myst. Rand Miller (American, born 1959) and Robyn Miller (American, born 1966). Publisher: Cyan Worlds (USA, est. 1987). 1993. Video game. Gift of Cyan Worlds, Inc. © 2012 Cyan Worlds, Inc.

Another World. Éric Chahi (French, born 1967). 1991. Video game. Gift of the designer. © 2012 Éric Chahi.

Katamari Damacy. Keita Takahashi (Japanese, born 1975). Publisher: NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. 2003. Video game. Gift of NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc. © 2012 NAMCO BANDAI Games Inc.

The Museum of Modern Art has acquired a selection of 14 video games, the seedbed for an initial wish list of about 40 to be acquired in the near future, as well as for a new category of artworks in MoMA’s collection that will grow in the future.

This initial group of video games, which will be installed in the Museum’s Philip Johnson Galleries in March 2013, features: Pac-Man (1980), Tetris (1984), Another World (1991), Myst (1993), SimCity 2000 (1994), vib-ribbon (1999), The Sims (2000), Katamari Damacy (2004), , Dwarf Fortress (2006), Portal (2007), flOw (2006), Passage (2008), Canabalt (2009).

The games were selected as outstanding 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. Criteria for the selections emphasize not only the visual quality and aesthetic experience of each game, but also the many other aspects— from the elegance of the code to the design of the player’s behavior—that pertain to interaction design. This acquisition allows the Museum to study, preserve, and exhibit video games as part of its Architecture and Design collection.