Video Game - Super Mario Clouds

The game:

Super-Mario Clouds is, according to the producer Cory Arcangel: "an old Mario Brothers cartridge which I modified to erase everything but the clouds." The ‘game’ left only with the blue sky and clouds, moving slowly from right to left. He believed that people who are familiar to the original game would have the total image in their minds.

Is Super-Mario Clouds an art?

I think that Super-Mario Clouds can be partly classified as art.

Being an art, this game is not formulaic, it is innovative and has content in someway. Art should not have formula, and here in the Clouds you can feel it. Unlike other arts we see, this is something new out of the old. You will not imagine the clouds will be the only thing left but not Mario. This is something out of our expectation, and I believe this is why it could be called as an art.

Secondly, having no formula also make this 'game' innovative. Not like other games that you can play with, here you got no characters but the clouds moving nonstop in front of you. This makes a difference between what video games should be, it is a totally new thing. You will never believe that the clouds are the only thing you can see out of the Mario world.

Many people may think that Super-Mario Clouds is boring, however, I think there is something here. Leaving only clouds moving helps make audiences think about what the creator wants to tell. It may not provoke your emotion as Mario should have, like being excited or happy, it does make you feel something or think about what is going on. This also make this 'game' to have some content or message, letting the audiences to think about it when seeing the clouds move.

However, Super-Mario Clouds in someways make it not so an art. Without the participation of audiences and somehow it is boring, this cannot help to link the artist and audience. With no interactions and boring, I believe this 'game' won't be long lasting, which an art should be. And, aesthetic qualities are lacked, it is simply clouds and a blue background cutting out from the original version.  

All in all, I would say Super-Mario Clouds contains some properties to be called an art.

Digital games - But are they art?

What is art?

We believe that art is a way to express ourselves (Reality or imagination). It wants to create emotions and feelings to the viewer. Art lasts for a long time, but nowadays it changes faster than before. Art has changed its purposes. First it was used to represent, to pass cultural values and moral purposes and now as a way to express.

What is art for Adam? Do we agree with him?

Adam thinks that art should have content (ideas). It needs to be aesthetic and doesn’t need a formula to be created. Art is not about being useful; it’s about expressing and creating feelings to the viewers. The entire group agrees with Adam’s definition.  

Can Videogames be classified as art?  What do we think?

Adam believes that videogames can turn to be a form art. Half of the group believes that videogames cannot be art because nowadays they are focused to create money (Commercial purpose) and it would be too hard to change that fact. Also gamers don’t pay attention to the aesthetic value, they only want to be entertain.  

The other half agrees that it can be art because some features like audio and visuals can express something that can be considered as something aesthetic. The second point is that we believe that videogames share ideas and has content.

Eric Siu- Touchy

 

Eric Siu