The Plug-In Studio logocollaborations in art and technology
plug-in graphic
The Street Arcade, Sept 2, 2015, outside Hyde Park Art Center. Photo courtesy Robert Banke.
A teen artist helps her young sister try the games. Photo courtesy the Plug-In Studio.
Visitors play videogames at the Street Arcade. Photo courtesy Robert Banke.
A young visitor tries out a game.
A young visitor tries out a game. Photo courtesy Robert Banke.
A crowd gathers as the Street Arcade kicks off. Photo courtesy Robert Banke.
Exploring Squishy Circuits at an ArtMakerSpace event.
Visitors played the games on custom-made arcade-style consoles.
As the sun set, the games were visible on the side of the building and on the 2nd floor video projections.
Visitors play videogames at the Street Arcade. Photo courtesy Robert Banke.
A teen artist discusses his game with his father.
Visitors play videogames at the Street Arcade. Photo courtesy Robert Banke.
Visitors play videogames at the Street Arcade. Photo courtesy Robert Banke.
Visitors play videogames at the Street Arcade. Photo courtesy Robert Banke.

Exhibition Feb 9 - Apr 26, 2024

screenshot from warGames Tactical Media Collective videogame

Opening: 2/9/24 6-8 pm Sears think[box] Gallery

The War Games: Tactical Media exhibition surveys the longstanding and tangled relationship between videogames and the US military. The first videogame, Spacewar!, was created by computer researchers at MIT in 1962 using nascent computer technology funded by the US Department of Defense. Since then, the commercial videogame industry has grown in tandem with - and partly thanks to - the US military's development of computer and digital technologies.

Unsurprisingly, military-themed videogames have come to dominate the gaming industry and gamer culture. The ubiquity of these games has facilitated the US military's public relations and recruitment efforts. Games such as America's Army and Call of Duty present glamorized depictions of armed combat and military culture that appeal to gamers, including young ones. Ironically, enlistees are trained for actual warfare using simulations that are nearly indistinguishable from the games they grew up playing. The line between "real" and "virtual" combat has become blurred. As war is conflated with fun and games, moral and ethical concerns are eclipsed.

The War Games: Tactical Media exhibition invites you to explore this history through an extensive media archive. Watch interviews with game developers and military personnel, view footage of soldiers training in cutting-edge VR gaming simulations and see how the military uses Esports tournaments to insinuate itself into youth culture. Examine the connection between videogames and the military in the popular imagination through vintage and contemporary game commercials, user-generated content from social media and excerpts from Hollywood movies. Play examples of military-themed videogames including the latest entry in the blockbuster Call of Duty franchise and Discharged, an artist-made arcade game that critiques the US military's use of videogames to recruit teens.

EXHIBITION OPENING: Feb 9, 2024 6-8 pm
Sears think[box] Gallery
Richey Mixon Building, 1st Floor
Case Western Reserve University
11201 Cedar Ave. Cleveland OH
Gallery Hours: M-F 12 - 5 pm