What Happens When An Art Museum Transforms Into A Giant Arcade

What Happens When An Art Museum Transforms Into A Massive Arcade

We took a 9-year-old girl genius obsessed with video games to interview the masterminds behind a psychedelic new Brooklyn show.

Meet Faile, a collective of two artists named Patrick McNeil and Patrick Miller who together have a penchant for turning the halls of art galleries and museums into video game meccas.

Now, meet Ada. Ada is a 9-year-old Minecraft champion and budding comic book writer who would like nothing more than to wander the expanses of an empty arcade, tearing open the consoles to see what's inside. That is, after she's confidently defeated each and every game she can get her hands on.

It was only fitting that Ada would become acquainted with Patrick and Patrick on the eve of their new show, "FAILE: Savage/Sacred Young Minds" at the Brooklyn Museum. As part of the exhibition, the artists transformed a portion of the iconic museum's fifth floor into a neon-hued cave filled with pinball machines, foosball tables and tower after tower of multiplayer video games. Essentially, a gamer's paradise.

When we invited Ada to preview the work (read: challenge Patrick and Patrick to a few rounds at the Deluxx Fluxx arcade), she graciously agreed. We expected the precocious elementary school student to be at least somewhat star-struck by the likes of Faile, the two adult artists who designed and built every single game in the museum, along with their collaborator Bäst. After all, the games were inspired by mature concepts like consumer culture, religious traditions and the urban environment, with nods to gentrification and the perils of finding a parking spot in a New York City borough.

Boy, were we wrong.

Check out the video above for a sneak peek of the show, and for more on the exhibition "FAILE: Savage/Sacred Young Minds," currently on view at the Brooklyn Museum, check out Brooklyn Street Art's previous coverage of the show on HuffPost.

Associate video production by Marielle Olentine. Big thanks to Ada, our new hero, Faile, and all the folks at the Brooklyn Museum.

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