The MoMA Celebrates Applied Design with Iconic Video Games

The Applied Design exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art opens tomorrow, and contains 14 iconic video games including Pac-Man, Tetris, Myst, Katamari Damacy, EVE Online, Portal, and flOw. According to The Guardian, the MoMA also hopes to acquire Spacewar, Pong, Snake, Space Invaders, Asteroids, Zork, Tempest, Donkey Kong, Yars’ Revenge, M.U.L.E., Core War, Marble Madness, Super Mario Bros, The Legend of Zelda, NetHack, Street Fighter II, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario 64, Grim Fandango, Animal Crossing, Minecraft, and numerous games for the Magnavox Odyssey — the first home console — to round out its collection.

There are still people who think that design is just about making things, people, and places pretty. In truth, design has spread to almost every facet of human activity, from science and education to politics and policymaking, for a simple reason: one of design’s most fundamental tasks is to help people respond to change. A designer today can choose to focus on interactions, interfaces, the Internet, visualizations, socially minded infrastructures and products, 5-D spaces, bioengineering, sustainability, video games, critical scenarios, and yes, even furniture. Several outstanding examples of this vitality and diversity are presented in this installation, ranging from a mine detonator by young Afghani designer Massoud Hassani to a vessel made by transforming desert sand into glass using only the energy of the sun. Also on display are 14 videogames—including Pac-Man, The Sims, and Katamari Damacy—that constitute the beginning of a new branch of MoMA’s collection.