Gaming Invades V&A: From Robot Karaoke to Erotic Puzzlers

The Victoria & Albert Museum recently hosted an engaging Friday Late event, a collaboration with the London Games Festival, that celebrated the cultural significance of gaming and performance. This event transformed the museum's venerable halls into an interactive space where visitors explored a diverse range of independent video games and immersive experiences.

Attendees encountered a vibrant mix of installations, from live-coded electronic music performances by London Live Coding to the Bafta-winning comedy game Thank Goodness You're Here! displayed beneath a medieval staircase. Another notable exhibit was the erotic physics puzzler Sex With Friends, which drew significant amusement from onlookers and highlighted the performative aspect of games.

Curator Susie Buchan emphasized the theatricality of the event, noting how large-scale games with an audience turn players into performers. Senior curator Kristian Volsing stressed the importance of presenting video games within a museum context to affirm their status as a serious cultural medium, encouraging communal experiences alongside historic artifacts.

Participatory elements were also central, with Jamie Brew's Robot Karaoke project engaging the crowd in singing pop songs with algorithmically generated lyrics. Artist Fredde Lanka facilitated the creation of video game fanzines, and Jana Romanova offered a lite-LARP experience. These activities underscored the communal and creative potential of gaming.

This event at the V&A is part of a broader trend of showcasing games in cultural institutions worldwide. It offers a counterpoint to industry-focused views, inviting audiences to appreciate games as integral to culture, much like the museum's historic collections. This perspective helps bridge the past and present, illustrating how digital worlds can be inspired by historical materials.