Gêmu: Japanese Visual Culture and Video game / Veranos de la Villa

From 26 July to 25 August, the Serrería Belga Cultural Space will host an exhibition that takes visitors on a journey to the Japanese visual culture through the video game, one of the most recent in cultural transmission but also one with the greatest impact, travelling from Japan to Spain. This exhibition is part of the programme of the Veranos de la Villa festival.

The video game arrived in Japan more than 50 years ago and soon became part of popular culture, absorbing the visual sense.  Without Japan, the video game would surely have taken a different shape.  Curated by Marçal Mora, Víctor Navarro and Alejandro Rodríguez, this exhibition takes visitors on a journey, starting with the context of the game itself and the video game in Japan, followed by its arrival and adaptation to the Spanish market.  Arcades, local developers and advertising from the 1990s bring together opposing angles of the phenomenon.

It will also focus on how Japan is represented in the video game, visiting several of its scenarios and peers in such popular series as Ryu Ga Gotoku, Persona or Densha de Go, the popular train simulator, to enter into its singularities and highlight those elements that are so unique that they never left their country.

Finally, it focuses on the most recognisable icons, such as Mario, Pokémon or the Dragon Quest series, illustrated by Akira Toriyama, opening the door to the final scenario, which shows how the video game has seeped into other visual arts and vice-versa, blurring the boundaries between media and highlighting the visual identity of the Japanese video game.

Image Credit: © Víctor Alonso