Game On (exhibition)

Game On is an exhibition organised and toured by the Barbican Art Gallery. The exhibition displayed a historical view of video game development from early arcade games to the present. First featuring at the Barbican Art Gallery in 2002, the exhibition is claimed to have been seen by over 1 million people worldwide.^[1][2] The organisers claim that "Visitors will be able to play games dating as far back as the 1960s" and hope to show the cultural impact of games and consoles.^[3] The exhibition attracted over 117,000 visitors in Melbourne, Australia in 2008 after previously attracting 99,500 at the Barbican Art Gallery in London and 127,000 in Chicago.^[4]

The exhibition's original curator, Conrad Bodman, stated that his goal was to "... look at the history, culture and the future of video games and try to unlock that for the general public." and "It's been really interesting developing the exhibition because these machines don't exist in public collections. [...] They are the preserve of a small number of collectors around the world."^[5] Henry Lowood, at Stanford University, one of very few academics working to preserve video games and their culture, said "Since the late 20th century, cultural history includes digital game culture. [...] It is not only the case that the history of this medium will be lost if we do not preserve the history of digital games, but also that we will not be able to provide a complete cultural history of this period."^[5]

Touring staff with the exhibition include a technician found in a retro games shop in London, whose role it is to keep the machines in working order.^[5]

The exhibition is currently on display at:

• State Library of Queensland in Brisbane from Nov 2008 to Feb of 2009.

The exhibition has been displayed at:

• Barbican Art Gallery in London from May 2002 to September 2002
• The Royal Museum at the National Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh from October 2002 to February 2003
• Tilburg Art Foundation in the Netherlands from May 2003 to August 2003
• Helsinki City Art Museum in Finland from September 2003 to December 2003
• A European Capital of Culture event in Lille, France from May 2004 to August 2004
• Eretz Israel Museum in Israel from September 2004 to January 2005.^[1]
• The Tech Museum of Innovation, San Jose from September 2005 to January 2006.^[1]
• Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago from March 2005 to September 2005 and again in February 2006 to April 2006 ^[1]
• Pacific Science Center in Seattle from May 2006 to August 2006.^[1]
• Thailand Creative Design Centre from August 2006 to November 2006.^[1]
• Science Museum in London from October 2006 to February 2007.^[1]
• Cyberport in Hong Kong from July 2007 to October 2007.^[1]
• Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne from March 2008 until July 2008.^[1]
• State Library of Queensland in Brisbane from Nov 2008 to Feb of 2009.

A review of the Melbourne exhibition stated "Game On presents an incredibly diverse range of items and information to those that wander its floorspace. The exhibition is a great gathering of the cultural items that have created the imaginative alternate worlds gamers have immersed themselves in over the age."^[6]

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