Escape > Control > Play: The Art of the Video Game

Escape->Control->Play is an interactive exhibition that showcases video games as sites of resistance, spaces to imagine alternative worlds, and opportunities for collaboration. The interdisciplinary group of artists, designers, and historians featured in the exhibition create experiences that subvert the homogenization of mass entertainment, using play as a means of cultural disruption, critical reflection, and community building. Through groundbreaking, cutting-edge, and whimsical game play, the exhibition highlights the powerful potential of video games to impact, disrupt, and reimagine our cultural landscape.

Through bespoke arcade games, immersive VR experiences, a giant bowler hat controller for two, a comprehensive history of Queer games, a group gaming lounge and more, Escape->Control->Play invites audiences to consider how video games create spaces for gathering, creation, empowerment, and imagination.

This free exhibition runs October 13 – December 12 at Drexel University’s Pearlstein Gallery.