A curiously short history of game art

Starting in the late mid-1990s, a group of artists in Europe, Australia and the United States began exploring the use of videogame technologies and cultural tropes to create Game Art, or more clearly stated, art made from videogames. Works like Bernstrup and Torsson's 1995 Museum Meltdown, JODI's 1999 SOD and Arcangel's 2002 Super Mario Clouds pushed on the conventions of both what constituted a videogame play experience and what was expected from a computer-based work of art. Fast-forward roughly fifteen years, and the phenomenon is largely over. This paper will explore the short history of Game Art and consider reasons for its short life and relative lack of critical success.