How the V&A Built a Games Program From the Inside Out

Most cultural institutions know games matter. Very few know what to do about it. Kristian Volsing is one of the people who figured it out — and built the path in real time.

As part of the V&A's contemporary design team, Kristian co-curated Design/Play/Disrupt, one of the most significant museum exhibitions ever dedicated to game design. He navigated studio NDAs, convinced the National Gallery of Art to lend a Magritte for a game show, and flew a colleague to Kyoto — where Nintendo showed her exactly one meeting room.

In this conversation, we go deep on what it actually takes to build a sustainable games program inside a cultural institution: why live events beat collection-building as a starting point, how to work with an industry that guards its IP fiercely, and what experimental game designers actually need from institutions like yours. If you're a champion inside an organization who sees the opportunity but doesn't yet have the authority to act on it — this one is for you.

• (00:00) - Why Cultural Institutions Can't Afford to Ignore Games Anymore
• (01:36) - Kristian Volsing's Path From Film Student to V&A Curator
• (05:27) - How a New Director Opened the Door for Digital Design at the V&A
• (09:20) - Inside Design/Play/Disrupt: Why Depth Beats the "50 Games on a Wall" Approach
• (17:32) - Nintendo, NDAs, and What It Actually Takes to Partner With Game Studios
• (27:55) - The Hard Truth About Collecting and Preserving Digital Work
• (40:50) - Where Your Institution Should Start: Practical Advice From Someone Who Built the Path

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Jamin Warren founded Gameplayarts, an advisory that helps museums and cultural organizations engage with the world of gaming. He provides them with the research, strategy, and execution they need to reach gamers for the first–or millionth–time. Gameplayarts’ past and present clients organizations like MoMA, the Getty Research Institute, Tribeca Enterprises, and PBS.