Dia De NES Muertos: The Art of Death (and Nintendo)
Posted by Joshua_Kopstein on Friday, Nov 05, 2010
The ‘games as art’ debate typical centers around aesthetic content of games and its ability to convey ideas. But there’s another side to the story that strays away from high-brow philosophical discussion and focuses on something that most of us can relate to with much greater ease – the physical games themselves. That’s the idea behind this Dia De Los Muertos art exhibit, where artists are using their old NES game cartridges as canvasses.
But when you think about it, it’s not so much about videogames as it is an appreciation for the aesthetics of the game cartridge itself. Much like how chiptune music orphans game consoles from their original purpose to explore the qualities of antiquated sound chips, the boxy, ridged textures of the NES cartridge can be simply that – an interesting surface to paint on.
That’s not to say it isn’t at least partially steeped in nostalgia – Artists like Thretris will pimp your old-school console with a custom paint job or crazy redesign (like this steampunk Game Boy) for the right price.
Then there’s the FAMICASE exhibit which shows the inverse: Videogame objects recognized as videogame objects, but more specifically as imagined products that hint at their content only through the art on their labels. Unless of course, you’re looking at the ones that had actual games created for them after the fact.
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Electronic musician and computer culture journalist. Contact: josh ◢at◣ motherboard ◐dot◑ tv
