AIOMI introduces ViGaMus

AIOMI INTRODUCES VIGAMUS, THE VIDEOGAME MUSEUM OF ROME
A first class location for the Italian and European Center for the Culture, Art and History of Videogames

Rome, January 22 – 2010

ViGaMus (Video Game Museum), the first permanent European videogame museum, is going to be opened in Rome by the end of 2010 as part of the Center for Videogame Studies and Research of The Italian Association for Multimedia Interactive Works (AIOMI).

Thanks to an exhibit and informational area of one thousand square meters, placed in a very central location of the Italian Capital, the Museum will allow Italian and foreign visitors to explore the history and evolution of the videogame, along with a stable itinerary able to underline genres, characters, technologies and works, there will be an enriched programme of parallel topical exhibits, seminars, projections, creative and editorial labs and other events distributed along the year. Inside these planned activities an important focus will be on the relations between the videogame medium and other media, mainly with cinema., literature and music.
More than a traditional museum, then, going beyond the formal stable exhibit towards the role of a vital part in the more complex and active center for studies and research able to promote cultural, artistic and technical projects and activities, a source for information and education and an important contributor for the videogame industry as a whole. Many of the educational activities of AIOMI’s Museum and Centre will be conducted outside the centre itself, for example in several Italian universities, offering young generations a chance to create and define a professional path in the most important and full fledged sector of new media and entertainment, that of videogames.
A vision that’s not just Italian, but also European and international, ViGaMus’ Scientific Board of is going to involve researchers and personalities from all countries, able to guarantee authority and competence. The managing team will see Marco Accordi Rickards as the president, Raoul Carbone in the administrative role and Bonaventura Di Bello as the curator.
Thanks to the partnership and contributions of Rome’s Municipality and other important actors in the videogame and entertainment industry and culture scene, the Videogame Museum and Centre is going to establish itself as a strategic source of activities to promote, evaluate and legitimize past, present and future products, works and technologies of the videogame industry, with the collection, analysis and cataloguing of materials and documents able to both preserve historical and artistic memory of the videogame medium and offer a base for educational, creative and informative internal and external activities managed by AIOMI.