Nostalgiczny wymiar muzeów gier wideo

Abstrakt

Nostalgic aspect of video games museums

The article is a result of a field research conducted in Computerspielemuseum in Berlin, Arcade Hry in Prague and Video Games Consoles Museum in Karpacz Poland. The exhibition arrangements in each of these places led to a question about nostalgic aspect of the museums, in which the traditional layout and narration of exposition contrast with the interactive space.
The notion of nostalgia is the center of my research. There are however different concepts of nostalgia as a form of memory among the researchers studying this subject. The point that emerges is the understanding of the past that we long for.
I am interested also in how the distance between the visitor and the exhibition is at once maintained and broken. This leads to the question about it being the crucial cause of awakening our nostalgia. That is why I attach importance both to the exhibition arrangement and the modes of visitors’ experience.
I also consider the affective aspect of this project, in which playing the game is one of the aforementioned modes of experiencing the exhibition. I argue that the engagement video games require is the main reason why we remember our experiences, therefore it is more likely to trigger our nostalgic emotions.