Gallery • 5 Photos

Max Kent

The Light Grey Art Lab was packed with around 150 to 300 people on the opening exhibition of the “Dream Arcade” art gallery, ranging from artists of the video game to families and students.

This art gallery was different than most because instead of just showing artwork, the Light Grey Art Lab gave visitors an opportunity to play the video game with tablets placed on the walls and set to the levels corresponding to the piece of artwork next to it.

Gallery Manager Jenny Bookler, has worked at the Light Grey Art Lab for two and a half years, graduated from the Minneapolis College of Art and Design in 2011 and was one of the main artists that helped make this video game possible.

“For the first six months we were learning how to program and how to make the levels and after that we did a call for art and artists had about two months to make their artwork,” Bookler said.

The Light Grey Art Lab, and artists working alongside them, teamed up with Microsoft in order to make the game and learn the process of transferring their artwork onto a video game format.

The gallery featured 27 artists, who each designed a level in the video game with their own interpretive style for all art related aspects on the level. After the art was complete, they sent the artwork into the Light Grey Art Lab and the art was transferred into a computerized format.

“It was a very lengthy process. We were working and adding extra pieces all the way up to the exhibition. We finished and uploaded it to the app store the day of the opening and so far there have been hundreds of downloads and people are really excited about it,” Bookler said.

The Light Grey Art Lab staff was happy to see a large crowd during the opening exhibition and all the artist were pleased to see all the compilation of artwork together on the finished game, according to Bookler.

Although the gallery has closed, the artwork in the video game and game itself is available to see and play online and on mobile devices.

Senior Xavier Lawson has played the game online and thought the game was a fun and creative way to incorporate the different artists artwork.

“I thought the game was filled with art. As for the gameplay, the story was pretty simple for a platform game, but I liked it,” Lawson said. “The art in the game had the old arcade feel and look to it, but with its own unique twist.”

“Dream Arcade” is available for download on the App Store for Windows devices. To play “Dream Arcade” online and learn more about the Light Grey Art Lab, visit https://lightgreyartlab.squarespace.com/.