Your mother was wrong – all those hours spent staring at a screen and pushing little buttons turned out to be worthwhile after all! At least, they did for the artists whose work is currently on display in the Esther M. Klein Art Gallery’s “Ready > Run” exhibit, which is running until November 7th. The gallery is dedicated to exploring the intersections between science, technology, and art, and is in the lobby of the Science Center at 36th and Market Streets. Just walking into the building induced an instant flashback to twenty years ago, sitting on the floor and playing Nintendo – the original system – for hours with my brother (he always won).

The exhibit explores “Chiptune,” also known as Chip Music Culture. The term describes music and art created by using the hardware of early video game systems, like Gameboy, Atari, and Nintendo NES. The art form is something of an international hit, with gamers turned computer geeks turned artists creating amazing visual and musical effects with the distinctive stamp of a 1980’s childhood. They turn videogame glitches and those oh-so-frustrating system crashes into controlled art.

The installations serenade gallery-goers and passersby with Nintendo-like tunes and draw you in with interactive setups (see how turning a joystick or stepping on a stomp pad changes the color scheme of the graphics or rearranges the pixels). The exhibit is cool and inventive, and definitely worth the ten or fifteen minutes it takes to check it out. Next time you’re in the neighborhood of 36th and Market, stop into the lobby and take a trip down memory lane.

Klein Art Gallery (In the Lobby of the University City Science Center)
3600 Market Street
Philadelphia, PA 19104
(215) 966-6188
www.kleinartgallery.org