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Recently one of the fathers of modern video games, Shigeru Miyamoto, aka the guy who made Mario, stated “I’ve never said video games are an art”. This sure is one of those ‘will never go away’ discussions.
I studied art for about 6 years and I still make a lot of stuff. I’m also a avid gaming enthusiast, so much so that I make a podcast on the subject. You’d think I’d err toward the more popular belief among gamers, that games are in fact art and we should give them the respect they deserve as an art form. Nope. Not at all.
Art is all about the intention of the creator. If an artist intends something to be interpreted as art, it’s art. Here’s an example. In 1917, a urinal becomes an art piece when Marcel Duchamp decides to piss off traditional artists and make fun of their traditional art competition. So what was it before it was art? It was a designed, engineered, functional machine, created by skilled people. But was it art? Nope. I don’t think too many people would argue with me either.
So in the process of creation, if the creator doesn’t intend it to be consumed as a piece of art, then it ain’t art. If they do how ever make that distinction, then shazam, it’s art. It’s not very glamorous. But in my opinion, it’s very true. I made a flow chart to help illustrate my point. Who can argue with a flow chart?
I agree to a certain extent with that chart. There is a point where a game becomes art, even if the developer hasn’t aimed it in that direction. Certain Experimental types of games are art, while some games that are aimed at becoming art are completely in the wrong direction.
Its in a flow chart so it MUST be right! Great article, Keep up the good work!
such an arrogant ego-centric artist point of view.. i would say.. art is only art in its consumption
if i sat down, in a desperate desire to shed the effects of last nights curry, on that aforementioned toilet, it ain’t art anymore.. just a toilet
if some tripped out hipster stumbles onto me in a wonder induced haze of art appreciation and finds meaning in the rhythmic movement of my bowel contractions… then it’s art again
the long-standing fascination with duchamp’s puerile ‘art is kind of shit’ joke, is not merely in his proclamation of the all-consuming power of the artist’s eye or even the delightful juxtaposition of this against the work – it is in the germination of the realisation that art exists only as a communication between subject / object / artist ( self? )
the first rays of that realisation, i think, only now are slowly dawning on society.. does art even exist without an audience? what then is an artist without audience.. someone who communicates only with themself…a crazy person? can art exist without an artist? a gallery? a work?!?
i’d say, art is what you make OF it!
videogames, chairs, toilets, side of cow, whatever..
sorry about the drive-by
( but you did ask who could argue with a flow chart
Now just to be clear, I’m not saying games can’t be art. Of course they can. Anything can.
But can art be created accidentally? Sure. easy. Spilled paint, that looks cool, now it’s art. But who makes that decision? Either the audience or the artist (who is also the work’s first audience). That spilled paint might sit there for 50 years unseen in a garage, and until someone interprets as art, it aint shit.
@Miles Good point! But I think we might be on the same side of this argument.
You posed the question ‘Does art even exist without an audience?’
No, I don’t think so. It’s a man-made construct and art always has an audience, even if it’s only the creator. When I say creator, I don’t only mean the person with the paint brush, I mean the person who decides it’s art. The audience IS the artist and anyone else who encounters it.
If you look at the side of a cow and see art, you are the creator of that art. You decided it was art.
I’m looking at Wii Sports, and I’m deciding, this isn’t art.
PS I’m sure Duchamp would love you to come on board as a collaborator.
“the work’s first audience”… i like that
sorry @nathanpye i misunderstood… i really thought you were saying that video games can’t be art and i took umbrage at the idea of the ‘creator’ as the arbiter of art’s consumption
ha, never played wii….i know…but i have seen more than a few flash games that qualify, in my eyes
Lovely article dude, appreciate it. I love gaming.