Games As Art

[Source: Euroslot, June 15, 2011]

The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) in Washington D.C., an independent federal agency supporting artists and arts organisations, has classified video games as an art form. In seeking grants, the NEA has expanded its guidelines by introducing an Arts in Media category, which replaces the former Arts on Radio and Television classification.

The new category includes “all available media platforms such as the Internet, interactive and mobile technologies, [and] digital games.” Next year’s projects should each receive $10,000 to $200,000 in taxpayer-funded grants.

Video games will also receive special national recognition from March 16 through September 30, 2012, when a new exhibit, entitled The Art of Video Games, runs at the federally-funded American Art Museum.

Curators claim the exhibit will be the first intensive display of video games to examine their 40-year evolution as part of an artistic medium. It will emphasise the bold visual effects and creative use of new technologies in video games’ presentation and play.