GamePlay. Playing For Impact

The fact that digital games have developed into a leading medium is nothing new. The social and aesthetic significance of this interactive and multimedia form can no longer be overlooked. 

Over 60 years have passed since the emergence of digital games and much has changed. Digital games have freed themselves from their origins as laboratory experiments and toys, becoming the defining medium of digital society. Positioned between pop culture, entertainment, and art, games now permeate every aspect of modern life. They shape how we learn, socialize, and perceive reality. Video games have increasingly attracted talented artists and independent developers who push boundaries and question established conventions in digital games and design, exploring unconventional subjects, aesthetics, and game mechanics.

By combining traditional art forms – graphics, film, animation, music, sculpture, and literature – digital games offer artists an unprecedented opportunity to communicate with audiences and have become a medium of artistic expression. “GamePlay – Playing for Impact” invites you to play, reflect, and learn more about the multifaceted forms that video games can take. 

This exhibition is a product of a collaboration with the ZKM | Center for Arts and Media in Karlsruhe, Germany and is an adaptation of their acclaimed gaming exhibition “zkm_gameplay. the next level”. This exhibition at MO Museum focuses on three key areas: games that push creative and aesthetic boundaries, games that address current social and political issues, and games that foster empathy through personal narratives.

Curators
Agnė Kuprytė, Laura Schmidt

Architecture and design
Joris Šykovas

Translator
Erika Urbelevič

Editors
Audra Kairienė, Darius Sužiedėlis

Exhibition installation by Dominykas Šavelis
IT preparations by Mantas Aleknavičius