Arca Arcade: Round One

Arca Arcade: Round One is an interactive exhibition that reimagines the arcade cabinet as a contemporary art object. Designed by Preston McNeil, the project merges nostalgic gaming technology with contemporary artistic practice, transforming playable arcade machines into sculptural installations. Each cabinet becomes both a gaming interface and a canvas, featuring original artworks by leading artists from Aotearoa New Zealand that are translated into playable game environments and animated projections.

The exhibition explores the intersection of art, design, and popular culture, drawing on the visual languages of te ao Māori alongside the aesthetics of retro arcade gaming. McNeil’s cabinet designs integrate carved wood, woven light elements, and digital animation, creating objects that are as visually compelling as they are interactive. Visitors are invited to engage physically with the works —using joysticks and buttons—reviving the social, competitive, and tactile qualities that defined arcade culture.

Arca Arcade: Round One appeals to diverse audiences, including contemporary art visitors, gamers, families, and communities who may not typically engage with gallery spaces. By combining accessible gameplay with culturally grounded design, the exhibition expands the possibilities of how interactive technology can function within museums and galleries. It highlights how legacy technologies can be reimagined as meaningful platforms for contemporary storytelling and artistic collaboration.

Curatorial Statement:

Arca Arcade: Round One repositions the arcade cabinet as both a sculptural form and a platform for contemporary artistic collaboration. Once fixtures of shopping malls and corner arcades, these machines are reimagined here as cultural artefacts—objects that carry the memory of a social technology that shaped generations of players. The exhibition explores how this familiar format can be transformed into a site for artistic expression, storytelling, and cultural exchange.

At the centre of the project is the cabinet itself. Designed by Preston McNeil, each machine draws from the visual languages of retro arcade design while incorporating references from te ao Māori, including carved forms, woven light elements, and surface motifs inspired by traditional design practices. These elements sit alongside contemporary digital animation and gameplay systems, creating hybrid objects that balance handcrafted materiality with electronic media.

The exhibition also foregrounds collaboration. McNeil worked with a group of artists from Aotearoa New Zealand whose distinctive visual languages are translated into playable game environments and animated projections. Rather than simply decorating the machines, the artists’ works are extended into motion and interaction, allowing visitors to engage with the imagery through play. This approach expands the role of the arcade cabinet from entertainment device to interactive gallery space.

For audiences, the experience is both tactile and communal. Visitors encounter the works not only by viewing them but by physically interacting with them— pressing buttons, moving joysticks, and competing with friends. This reactivates the social energy that once defined arcade culture, where gameplay was as much about shared experience as individual skill.

Within a contemporary museum or gallery context, Arca Arcade: Round One invites audiences to reconsider the cultural significance of legacy technologies. By merging contemporary art, design, and interactive media, the exhibition demonstrates how familiar objects from popular culture can be reframed as sites of artistic innovation. It also offers an accessible entry point into gallery spaces for audiences who may not typically engage with contemporary art, expanding the reach and relevance of the exhibition beyond traditional art audiences.