On the change of interfaces and imagery in video game art

Introduction: On the establishment of video game art

It is no news in art history that artistic development goes hand in hand with technological change. Expansions in arts always grew with technological innovations. One may recall for example the new interest in ‘plein air’ painting at the beginning of ‘Impressionism’ which coincided with the invention of portable paint. In Minimalism, sculptors used new industrially produced materials and new machinery for the production of their works. Also today and particularly in the last decades, technological innovation has enriched the range of possible media and materials in the arts. One preferred medium connected to our everyday lives are video games. Video games started with VHS like tapes one had to push into gaming consoles. Currently the term video game refers to all games based on digital interfaces and imagery. Since Nam Jun Paik’s experiments with video in art spaces and his idea of a ‘super highway’, many artists and exhibition makers have explored the aesthetic experience of videos. Video game art may be seen as the interactive or playful version of video art. In the last decade curators and museums developed an interest in video game art as a contemporary artistic discipline, and have come to accept video games as a new type of cultural artifact worthy of museal archives. Sometimes, of course, these artistic and curatorial endeavors are mere fashion statements: The Austrian Media Arts Festival Ars Electronica2007 edition, in which the German artist Aram…