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Halo 2600

Smithsonian American Art Museum and its Renwick Gallery
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Object Details

Artist
Ed Fries, born Bellevue, WA 1964
Exhibition Label
The engineer, programmer, and gamer Ed Fries was inspired by the idea that severe limitations precede creativity. Using the popular video game HALO as a departure point, Fries retooled the game’s mechanics and narrative to play on an Atari VCS, the vintage 1977 gaming console. HALO2600 contorts the boundaries of technological constraint by using the deprecated programming language of an obsolete system and rendering a contemporary video game in conversation with its techno-linguistic past. This “home brew” game cartridge---affectionately referred to among gamers as a “de-make”---acts as an update for a classic system that at once highlights video gaming’s prescience, obsolescence, and creative incitement.
Watch This!: Revelations in Media Art, 2015
Credit Line
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Mike Mika and Ed Fries
Copyright
© 2010, Ed Fries
2010
Object number
2013.73
Restrictions & Rights
Usage conditions apply
Type
Media Arts
Medium
video game for Atari VCS, color, sound
See more items in
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department
Time-Based Media Art
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Record ID
saam_2013.73
Metadata Usage (text)
Not determined
GUID (Link to Original Record)
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk7503a13ff-06e6-4f19-997b-dec303893ee0

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International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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