Last Minute: 8 BIT

On a heads up from Jockohomo, I checked out a screening of the documentary 8 BIT at MoMA last night.



The short description “a hybrid documentary examining the influence of video games on contemporary culture.”

I was so there.

It was a miserable, wet NY night, perfect for a little trip of nostalgia.

It’d been forever since I’d been to MoMA. Well, untrue, I picked up my ticket earlier in the afternoon. The last time I’d been there was probably for a college art history class, before MoMA’s renovations. I remember seeing Constantin Brancusi’s “Bird in Space,” one of my favorite sculptures. Sigh. I’ll have to make a point of going back during normal museum hours.

The theater gallery adjoined the primary museum space. Passing through, I was able to look into MoMA’s sculpture garden. In the murky, gloomy twilight, I hoped to catch a glimpse of Rodin’s “Monument to Balzac.” Perhaps I couldn’t see it in the darkness but It wasn’t where I remembered it. I stifled a pang of disappointment. Must get back during normal hours. Must get back to my fine art roots.

Yes! I have fine art roots thank you very much.

People filed into the theater, buzzing with idle chatter. I settled into an aisle seat, kicking back with an episode of BSG on the ipod. More on BSG another time. Scanning the audience, I noted that most were around my age. Not so surprising. Some were younger, probably curious of the novelty.

Before the movie, we had a few words from MoMA and from the director of 8 BIT, Marcin Romocki. He said, “If you like video games, like music and like art. You’ll like this movie.”

The movie moves along nicely, drifting from a brief history of video games into (some of) the cultural effects of hacking and self-expression found in the medium, then delving further into the remnant art/musical forms spawned from it. I say “some of” because, while 8 BIT does an admirable job of covering the movement, it only scratches the surface, highlighting a few examples of work from a few fringe, niche artists. 8 BIT doesn’t try to quantify the overall impact of video games on our culture, but does invite us to explore the effect of video games in our individual experiences.

8 BIT is a great documentary. Reading some of the early reviews, I do agree that some of the editing was a little shocking in the beginning and it does end abruptly. It succeeds in bringing me back to a simpler time and I wish I remembered what I did with my original GameBoy. I'm pretty sure I could rock out some kickass tunes.