I usually hate this argument, mostly because it’s been done to death, and also because like most debates of this nature, it will most probably never be widely resolved.
However, UK arts guru, author and ex-director of Contemporary Arts in the UK, Ekow Eshun, weighed in with some refreshingly insightful comments on the matter during a debate on BBC Radio 4’s Today program.
Referring to the wildly popular indie champion Minecraft, Eshun said: “No, it’s not art and I think it’s probably not trying to be art either.”
This comment raises a great point: do games want to be art? And if they are art, does that make them any better, or more important than if they are not?
Minecraft
“Video games are entertainment,” he continued. “Most of the things we enjoy in life are entertainment. Lots of books, lots of TV shows, lots of films aren’t art. That doesn’t make them bad, it makes them really enjoyable.”
“I’d suggest that the things we really consider art are the things that allow us to ask profound questions about who we are, how we live and the state of the world around us. I think most games don’t get to that place, and it’s important to set that bar quite high.”
Before you get your knickers in a knot, Eshun also points out that most supposed art forms are not truly art 98 percent of the time, making the point that “98 percent of films, of TV shows, of music don’t reach that level either.”
“Most of the things we like, enjoy and admire are really good but whether they’re at the precise high level where we say this changes how I see the world in a significant and deep way, well, actually they don’t.”
God of War III – Deep, thought-provoking stuff…
Eshun is obviously not an avid gamer, and while he doesn’t believe games are art, he does present a well reasoned paradigm within which the term “art” functions.
Obviously he is not aware of certain games which may “allow us to ask profound questions about who we are, how we live and the state of the world around us,” but his definition does make room for certain games to be considered art.
Not that I care, of course.
Are games art? – Good points made during BBC debate << Comments and views
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