Turn the volume up for our annual exploration of video games and art, SAAM Arcade 2023! This annual celebration of creativity and innovation in games explores many of the same themes on display in the new exhibition Musical Thinking: New Video Art and Sonic Strategies. The exhibition explores the powerful resonances between recent video art and popular music. Like the works of video art highlighted in the galleries, video games employ the same toolkit to evoke emotional responses and communicate the game’s story, values, and goals. Music can act as a building block for game worlds and a mechanic for navigating those worlds through rhythm and repetition. This year, the popular Indie Developer Showcase will highlight games that use music and sound design in engaging, experimental, and inventive ways, from rhythm games to musical instrument simulators to groundbreaking soundtracking. Play classic video and arcade games provided by local partner MAGFest and explore SAAM’s collection with a sonic-inspired art scavenger hunt. Visit https://americanart.si.edu/events/saam-arcade for a full list of games and more details about the 2023 program.

Free | Registration encouraged via Blackthorn

Smithsonian American Art Museum

Kogod Courtyard

Registration link: https://events.blackthorn.io/en/5f4ZMUx7/in-person-saam-arcade-5a2b5f1QrEW/overview