It was only two years ago that the Museum of Modern Art put its seal of approval on Pac-Man by adding the game to its permanent collection. Many saw this as a pivotal moment for video games; one of the most prestigious museums in the world was adding a little yellow blob’s maze-lurking, ghost-eating adventures to the pantheon of fine art.
But has anything about Pac-Man’s legacy actually changed since then? By way of an answer, I submit for your consideration “The Big Maze“, a new installation in the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. Built in partnership with the Danish architectural firm BIG-Bjarke Ingels Group, the thing basically looks like a fancified version of the corn mazes we all got lost in as kids:
Now, the designers working on this awesome-looking installation probably had a more multifaceted set of inspirations than just playing old levels of Pac-Man. But I still love moments like this when culture seems to be moving forward differently than one would normally expect — leading with a digital artifact and then revisiting one of its important physical precedents.
Also, just putting it out there: I’d probably spend a lot more time at architecture museums if they all came with giant mazes.
via Kill Screen
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