ACMI’s Women In Games Exhibit Is Hitting The Road

ACMI’s touring exhibit, Code Breakers: Women In Games, is making its next stop at the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum.

The exhibit showcases the work of Australian women in the video games industry. The exhibit itself features playable games, from indies to AAA, produced by women across a variety of disciplines.

What the Code Breakers exhibit hopes to provoke is a rethinking of industry stereotypes. It shows the industry through a more inclusive lens and demonstrates the positive effect real diversity can have on any creative and collaborative production.

“We are excited to host Code Breakers at Yarra Ranges Regional Museum,” says Yarra Ranges Deputy Mayor Cr Johanna Skelton. “The exhibition offers a brilliant opportunity to bring focus to the achievements of women in creative technologies, as well as exploring the positive social impacts of gaming and its narrative, educational and artistic potentials.”

There are a lot of high profile names among the collection featured in the exhibition. Former League of Geeks producer Lisy Kane (Armello), New Zealand indie developer Katharine Neil (Escape From Woomera), and Media Molecule co-founder/studio director Siobhan Reddy (LittleBigPlanet) all feature, among many, many others. Their games are all onsite and available to play.

The Code Breakers exhibit was first unveiled at the Australian Center for the Moving Image in 2017. It now tours around Australia, particularly in regional centres, extolling the virtues of the local games industry and the women who help make it great.

A launch event to support the exhibit will be held on International Women’s Day, Tuesday, 8 March. The event, an online conversation called “On Gaming and Social Change”, will run from 12 pm to 1pm AEDT. Speakers include the aforementioned Lisy Kane, Design & Creative Practice Platform director at RMIT Professor Larissa Hjorth, and Paper House producer Caitlin Cronin.

The launch event is free, and you can register to attend here.

Code Breakers: Women in Games will be at the Yarra Ranges Regional Museum from 5 March to 15 May 2022. Exhibit entry is also free. You can find out more about it at the YRRM website, and at ACMI.