Today marks the first day of many upcoming months of fun and interesting activities for the Toledo region tech community at the Toledo Museum of Art. Huh? Tech stuff at an art museum? Yes!
May 16th is the opening of “Zeros and Ones: Computer Generated Art” in the Community Gallery. Three dozen invited artists created 70 works (including short videos and two–dimensional art), using a mix of computer techniques. Today at 6pm you can meet the artists. It runs until September 18th, so you have plenty of time to see it.
But this is not the big exhibit that you will want to be sure to attend. Starting on June 19th, The Art of Video Games opens at TMA.
The Art of Video Games shows the striking visual effects, player interactivity and creative use of new technologies in games. By focusing on four game types—action, adventure, target and combat/strategy—the exhibition reveals the emergence of video games as a means of storytelling and audience engagement. Visitors will be able to connect with the content of the show across generations, from those who remember classics such as Pac-Man and Super Mario Brothers to those playing more recent games like Flower and Super Mario Galaxy 2.
The exhibition started at the Smithsonian American Art Museum in 2012, then went on the road. Watch videos about the exhibit on YouTube, scan #TAoVG (general exhibit hashtag) for news from its travels, buy the book, and read the history.
The Toledo stop on the tour kicks off with Chris Melissinos, the curator of the exhibit, giving a presentation and doing a book signing on Friday, June 20th. Saturday, June 21st, is the opening party, 8pm to midnight.
While the exhibit is at TMA (June 19 – September 28), other activities for the tech community are happening. Thursday evening film showings of WarGames (July 24) and The Last Starfighter (August 21). Friday evening panels “Life of a Pro Gamer” (July 18) and “Where are video games headed?” (August 15), led by our friends at Beyond Gaming.
More events may be added to the program. Check out Toledo Tech Events for a list of the video-game-related events you will not want to miss. Follow #GameOnTMA on Twitter and use that hashtag to tell us about your tech adventures at the museum. If you are talking with a friend and want to point them to more information, tell them to go to “gameon dot toledomuseum dot org“.
I am proud to have helped plan some of these activities with Museum of Art colleagues. You may have never considered an art museum as a place to hang out with the rest of the Toledo region tech community (and the UX crowd), but from now until September, I hope you spend a lot of time there.
Keith