By Maisha Hasan, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
As video games increasingly gain recognition as cultural and artistic works, spawning shows, movies, and critical acclaim, Museums of Burlington is embracing this evolution through “Game Changers,” a hands-on travelling exhibit currently on view at the Joseph Brant Museum.
Kimberly Watson has served as Director of Museums for the Museums of Burlington for nearly six years, carefully curating each exhibit to offer fresh and engaging experiences, with Game Changers standing out as a particular highlight.
Watson notes that Game Changers, like other travelling exhibits, can surprise museum staff in terms of their target audience.
“We’ve had some seniors come in. They didn’t know this exhibit was here, but they came in to see the rest of the museum, and they ended up spending two hours in that exhibit. I could hear them laughing, and I could hear them playing… they came out and loved it.”
Watson continued, “You might have an idea of who you think it [an exhibit] might appeal to, but then it ends up speaking to a much broader audience than that. So that’s the fun in what we see.”
The showcase doesn’t only resonate with seniors enjoying Space Invaders or other video games from a bygone era; of course, children enjoy the exhibit as well, but more surprising has been the springboard the exhibit provides for families to learn more about each other.
“We’ve had a lot of grandparents bringing their grandchildren in and talking about games; they’ll talk about games that they played when they were young. It starts that conversation, and I think we’ve had a lot of people who are nostalgic.”
Joseph Brant Museum tends to be a popular destination for families in the summertime, and Watson notes that they work to provide hands-on exhibits, particularly during this season, for that very reason. But Game Changers, says Watson, has been well-attended on its own terms.
“I think this is one of the exhibits that people who have come in have come in specifically to see it,” she explains.
Aside from the excited reactions of the public, the Game Changers exhibit is also a demonstration of Watson’s modern take on museums and history.
“I think museums are changing and evolving. Trying to keep up with current trends, I think that’s hugely important so that people see museums not just as [artifacts] behind glass and older, and that sort of thing. Even what has happened 10 minutes ago is history. History is always evolving and changing, and I think museums need to be seen as that, too,” Watson offers.
The travelling exhibit gallery is ideal for hosting modern history exhibits and other such distinctive offerings, allowing the museum to tempt more people to come through their doors. It’s through unusual travelling exhibits like Game Changers that museums can connect with a broader audience.
“We’ve probably changed that gallery three times a year, and we’re able to bring in exhibits that are a bit outside the box and really delve into a lot of different topics that we can’t tell in our other galleries,” says Watson.
The exhibit before Game Changers, notes Watson, was Refuge Canada from Pier 21, which aimed to shed light on the difficult circumstances that refugees to Canada may find themselves in.
“That one was a more serious topic and really thought-provoking,” Watson says. “And then the next one we’re bringing in is more family-oriented. You’re learning something, but in a fun way. Sometimes when [they] go through the exhibit, kids might not even realize they’re learning something, which is kind of neat, too.”
The ability to spark thought and conversation, and to encourage people to see a topic from a different perspective, are what keep Watson excited about finding new travelling exhibits to bring to Burlington.
Following the buzz around this exhibit, Watson and the rest of Museums of Burlington are looking for a way to host more tech-savvy exhibits without having to budget for replacing and fixing high-tech parts.
“We do try to always find some [exhibits] that have some sort of interactive component, [but] if you get ones that are very tech-heavy, it is expensive to fix. So, you have to balance that too,” Watson says.
Some solutions Watson and her team have found include lower-tech options that have hands-on components. She describes one such example: “In one of our exhibits, it’s a Burlington map, and people can take this magnet and put it where they are. People love that, and that’s more low-tech as compared to a touch screen.”
Game Changers offers a different take on low- versus high-tech: some of the games featured in the exhibit are relatively old in the video game world, and compared to the likes of Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5, might be seen as somewhat low-tech.
Those games of the last century still hold their own appeal, though, as well as offering adult visitors a sense of nostalgia, which Watson herself has experienced through the exhibit.
“I remember sitting at home in front of the TV with my game system when I was eight years old, playing some of them, like Donkey Kong, for example, or Pac-Man. It brings back really good memories for me. And my sister, who’s a little bit older than me, came to see it, and it got us to talk about stories and times when we were younger at home.”
Watson describes how the newer, higher-tech games seem to move much faster than the older ones, a feeling many adult attendees will likely relate to.
Created by the Canada Science and Technology Museum, Game Changers runs at the Joseph Brant Museum until September 13, 2025.
Game Changers is a travelling exhibition created by the Canada Science and Technology Museum. The exhibition is on view at Joseph Brant Museum until September 13, 2025.
