Open Studio: Digital Games – Museum of Childhood, V&A

You may not consider computer games to be art, but the V&A does. Alongside traditional storytelling, treasure hunts and craft workshops, the museum also has an eye to the digital future. Sophia George, the V&A's first ever computer games designer in residence, spends her time perusing the Britain 1500-1900 galleries and creating a computer game inspired by the collections.

Just 23, George won a Bafta for her first game, Tick-Tock Toys, which became available at the App Store. Now she is part-way through designing her new  game at the V&A’s Museum of Childhood and is inviting children aged seven upwards to come and try it out on an i-pad. 

Now why, you might ask, would you take your child to play computer games at the V&A? Surely a trip to a museum is an opportunity to reduce screen time, not increase it. George, who prides herself on creating family-friendly games, argues that playing her computer game will introduce the next generation to the artefacts in the V&A’s galleries. ‘The V&A is leading the way by embracing computer games as a creative activity,’ she says. 

George can imagine a world, maybe not in her lifetime, when a video game could win the Turner Prize. 'People see games as a low form of art, only played by teenage boys,' she told the Evening Standard . 'Games are interesting ways to show human emotions and tell stories. It would be a shame for people not to take them seriously.'

Does this make you feel any better about letting your child have ‘just ten more minutes’ on your i-phone?