BOOK: NEW GAME ART (NOVEMBER 18 2026)
Japanese publisher BNN will release NEW GAME ART: New Art and Practices around Games (ニューゲームアート ゲームをめぐる新しい芸術とその実践) on November 18, 2026. Edited by Yusuke Shono and game journalist Hajime Kasai, the 224-page volume surveys 357 international works across twenty chapters, accompanied by ten critical essays from artists, scholars and game designers.
The publication examines two increasingly interconnected fields: arthouse games, experimental productions distributed through commercial platforms such as Steam and itch.io, and game art, works conceived primarily for exhibition within contemporary art institutions. This distinction, as Kasai explains in the book’s recently published introduction, reflects differences in institutional circulation rather than fixed aesthetic categories. The growing accessibility of game engines has enabled independent developers to pursue experimental forms while allowing contemporary artists to produce their own interactive environments.
Organised into seven thematic sections, the volume investigates the aesthetics of gameplay, alternative forms of embodiment, autonomous simulations and the political uses of virtual environments. Of particular interest is the section dedicated to video games as artistic media, with chapters on in-game photography, machinima and the appropriation of game assets. Contributors include philosopher Shinji Matsunaga, media artist Akihiko Taniguchi and game AI researcher Youichiro Miyake.
The book arrives at a moment when the historical separation between experimental game development and contemporary artistic practice has become increasingly difficult to sustain. Its emphasis on the conditions of production and exhibition offers a productive starting point for reconsidering the categories through which game-based art is documented and discussed.
BNN has published Kasai’s introduction in Japanese, available to read free of charge.
NEW GAME ART, edited by Yusuke Shono and Hajime Kasai. BNN, Japan, November 18, 2026. Japanese language, 224 pages. ISBN 978-4-8025-1387-6.