Initiatives / Experiments / Visions
The Video Games Museum
Project description
The Video Games Museum is a private initiative, to transform an unused space (a former laundry), to a museum dedicated to video games. The idea of converting the space into a museum is an attempt to contribute to the cultural development of the city through unique museums. This project was also a personal challenge, with 90% of the space being redesigned by me, using personal resources. My wish was to show that to do something is possible and that many times, all you have to do is start a project, so I looked for ways to arrange the space as efficiently as possible, which do not require too much intervention (the plaster of the walls was abandoned, keeping the appearance offered by the brick that was later lacquered) .The arrangement of the space was done in a way that would allow the development of both the activity of visitation as well as the organization of specific events. Given the continuous development of the museum, the exhibitions panel was designed to allow them to be easily rearranged in the context of completing the collection with different pieces. For a presentation of the 7 generations of consoles, a strip with 7 distinct colors was used, the colors being also used for the display panels of different accessories used for video consoles. Also, various shelves used from a former residency were reused to make exhibition showcases. For exhibits that required a clamping system to facilitate its use, clips for mobile phones were used. The lighting system was designed on 2 routes. A route of red / yellow light around the exhibits, to give the atmosphere of a video game salon, and a route on the central axis of the space, with a white neon light. The biggest problem in arranging the space was finding suitable solutions to stop the high humidity level, the space being located in the basement. Thus, a waterproof cement was used on the problem walls and a dehumidifier was purchased. The duration of the project was about one year, the museum being inaugurated in 2019 by Gallery Night event.
Author's presentation text
The interest for the unused spaces came with the discovery of the former cinema projection booth “August 23”. This space still had projectors. The initial direction was for a museum dedicated to cinema, but due to the large number of exhibits in the field of amateur cinema, the project materialized by opening a dedicated museum, Amateur Filmmakers Museum. Through this museum I support amateur filmmakers, by transferring movies from film to digital format. This way, a significant number of films were saved. The activity also extended to the scanning of photographic negatives made by Resita photographers. Because I believe that the city can develop culturally and through museums, I tried to continue in this direction. Thus, 4 years after the inauguration of the first museum, I started the works at a museum dedicated to video games. In 2019, on White Night of Galleries, I inaugurated the Video Games Museum.
