How the V&A Built a Games Program From the Inside Out
From Gameplayarts: Helping Cultural Institutions Break Into Games by Jamin Warren
February 28, 2026 · 46 min · Episode 7
About this episode
Kristian Volsing discusses building a sustainable games program at the V&A and the challenges faced in collaborating with the gaming industry.
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…
People in this episode
Host: Jamin Warren
Guest: Kristian Volsing
Topics covered
- cultural institutions
- game design
- sustainable games program
- collaboration with game studios
- digital design
- exhibitions
Keywords
- cultural institutions
- games program
- game design
- exhibitions
- collaboration
- digital work
- Nintendo
- NDAs
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: V&A, National Gallery of Art, Nintendo
Books & works: Design/Play/Disrupt
More episodes of Gameplayarts: Helping Cultural Institutions Break Into Games
- How SFMOMA Built a 15-Year Game-Based Arts Program From the Inside Out · May 13, 2026 · 48 min
- How Tribeca Made Space For Games · April 30, 2026 · 33 min
- What Tribeca Games Built—And What Most Institutions Still Miss · April 22, 2026 · 33 min
- Theo Triantafyllidis on the Technical Realities of Exhibiting Game-Based Art · February 10, 2026 · 36 min
- Fandom as Ocean: Building Authentic Communities for Art-Forward Games (w/ Bria Davis) · July 9, 2025 · 32 min
- Creating Positive Gaming Spaces · August 23, 2023 · 26 min
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