Pixel art is one of the most-read names for images built on a grid. The museum record actually in hand is not a dedicated "pixel art movement" catalogue. It is the Smithsonian American Art Museum's 2012 exhibition on video games as an artistic medium, across five eras of game technology. The grid is a constraint and a material. This page stays with that official show, and does not invent a movement the opened page does not provide.
Smithsonian American Art Museum, "The Art of Video Games," 16 March–30 September 2012. The museum's own page calls it "one of the first exhibitions to explore the forty-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects and the creative use of new technologies." It "features some of the most influential artists and designers during five eras of game technology, from early pioneers to contemporary designers," and "focuses on the interplay of graphics, technology and storytelling through some of the best games for twenty gaming systems ranging from the Atari VCS to the PlayStation 3."
Eighty games, selected with the help of the public, "demonstrate the evolution of the medium." They "are presented through still images and video footage," plus "video interviews with twenty developers and artists, large prints of in-game screen shots, and historic game consoles." Playable games named on the page: Pac-Man, Super Mario Brothers, The Secret of Monkey Island, Myst, and Flower. Curator: Chris Melissinos, founder of Past Pixel, as named on the page.
The public vote "took place between February 14 and April 17, 2011." "More than 3.7 million votes were cast by 119,000 people in 175 countries!" Those figures are SAAM's. They describe a selection process, not a ranking of quality, and they are not a Glitxz attendance or lot figure.
What the exhibition actually showed
The show ran from 16 March to 30 September 2012. It is about video games as an artistic medium, not a survey of pixel art as a named movement. Five eras of technology, twenty systems from the Atari VCS to the PlayStation 3, eighty games, stills, footage, interviews, prints, and consoles: that is the official inventory. The five playable titles are listed only as the museum named them.
A grid still needs a record of how the image was made, in which environment, and which impression is which. What is glitch art and What is net art are the movement siblings already in this section. When the software is the work is the later companion, for cases where the program itself is what was acquired.
This page does not name homepage artists or lots, and it does not stand a Glitxz example next to Pac-Man.
A situation like this
This is a worked example, not a lot and not a customer. A wall text calls a grid-built image "pixel art, in the tradition of the 2012 Smithsonian show," and treats that show as a dedicated pixel-art movement survey. The opened page already says what the exhibition was: video games as an artistic medium.
Sources
- Smithsonian American Art Museum, "The Art of Video Games," 16 March–30 September 2012. https://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/games
Also in this section
- What is glitch art — the break kept on purpose.
- What is net art — work made on and for the network.
- When the software is the work — sometimes the program is what was acquired.
- What plotter art is and how it's made — name the machine that drew the line.
Applications to show unfinished work are open at Apply. First lots have not opened.
The useful next step is to say how the image was made, and on which grid, or to read the mediums index. If something on this page is wrong, write to us.
Author: Escherbridge. Last reviewed: 2026-11-10, America/Denver.