A token, an arcade cabinet, a joystick, a controller, a smartphone, a console connected to the world. Technology changes, but the desire remains the same: to explore virtual universes, live a thousand different lives, overcome obstacles, build worlds, and keep on playing.
M9 - Museum of the 20th Century presents PLAYERS. Games, video games, culture and society, an exhibition that traverses a century of history through the lens of video games and invites the public to experience it firsthand.
PLAYERS is an exhibition that is played. Arcade cabinets from the 1980s, consoles from the 1950s to today, interactive stations in every section of the pathway: the public takes the controller in hand and relives the social and cultural changes of the 20th century, game after game, from the first experiments in university laboratories to the latest generation devices.
Video games have become one of the most influential languages of our time: they combine interactivity, storytelling, art, and technology and accompany the evolution of Italian and European society. By looking at video games, we can tell stories about youth cultures, new family rituals that have crossed generations, collective social practices, and meeting places from the arcade to the bedroom, up to the living room at home.
The journey begins on the two floors of the permanent collection, with a trip to discover games before video games: styles, consumption, and habits of the 20th century translated into toys that have shaped imaginations and social habits. From here, the exhibition is divided into three sections. #PLAY is a historical journey through the places and social modes of play, from university laboratories in the 1950s to the contemporary living room. #WATCH explores video games as a spectacle: art, cinematic narrative, eSports, streaming. #CREATE tells how a video game is born, from the professional figures involved in the creation cycle to the audience that becomes a co-creator of experiences.
Hours: Wed, Thu, Fri, 10.00 a.m. – 6.00 p.m.
Sat, Sun, 10.00 a.m. – 7.00 p.m.
Mon, Tue, closed
