VIDEO GAMES, THE TENTH ART

Juan Gómez Jurado, Ana Oncina, Valeria Castro and Rufino Ferreras analyse the evolution of this cultural medium at the Thyssen-Bornemisza

Are video games art? The question, turned into a statement in the title of our debate, has been asked in academic, cultural and social environments for more than a decade. The release of ‘The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’ on 12 May brings the question back to the table, Zelda being one of the titles most frequently used by those who argue that this medium can be considered art. 

For this reason, at the OXO Museum of Video Games in Malaga we propose to talk openly and with different visions about the artistic consideration of video games in an environment of the greatest relevance and international prestige such as the Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum. Analysing the classification of the arts, which began in Classical Greece and has reached the present day with changes in the order and incorporations, it seems clear that the place that the video game aspires to on the list is the tenth. Does it deserve it? Are there any doubts about considering the video game as the tenth art?

• Juan Gómez Jurado - Writer.
• Ana Oncina - Illustrator and author. 
• Valeria Castro - Videogame producer and designer, president of the Spanish Association of Videogame and Entertainment Software Producers and Developers (DEV). 
• Rufino Ferreras, artist and educator, director of the Education Department of the Thyssen Museum. 

Together they will present their particular vision of what the tenth art is (and what it is not). They will be accompanied by the journalist specialising in video games Santiago Bustamante, cultural director of OXO and director of the Radio3 programme Fallo de Sistema.