Rainbow Arcade collection

Collection — Container: digital

Identifier: 120.4259

Staff Only

The Rainbow Arcade collection is a compilation of materials related to the Rainbow Arcade exhibition hosted by the Schwules Museum in Berlin, Germany from December 2018 through May 2019. These exhibit-related materials include planning and research documentation, detailed information on media within the exhibit, images, exhibit catalog, publicity articles, and related files. Additional scope and content information can be found in the Contents List section of this finding aid.

The Rainbow Arcade collection is arranged into four series, one of which has been further divided into subseries. This digital collection can be accessed on-site at The Strong.

Dates

2009 - 2020
Majority of material found within 2018 - 2019

Creator

Shaw, Adrienne (Person)

Language

This collection is in both English and German, with a few instances of Spanish, Swedish, and French.

Conditions Governing Use

This collection is open for research use by staff of The Strong and by users of its library and archives. Though the donor has not transferred intellectual property rights (including, but not limited to any copyright, trademark, and associated rights therein) to The Strong, she has given permission for The Strong to make copies in all media for museum, educational, and research purposes.

Extent

3.7 Gigabytes (Digital only.) : Accessible on-site at The Strong.

Additional Description

Abstract

The Rainbow Arcade collection is a compilation of digital materials related to the Rainbow Arcade exhibition hosted by the Schwules Museum in Berlin, Germany from December 13, 2018 through May 13, 2019.

Historical Note

The Schwules Museum in Berlin, Germany opened in 1985 as the first museum in the world dedicated to LGBTQ+ history and culture.

From December 13, 2018 through May 13, 2019, the Schwules Museum hosted Rainbow Arcade, an exhibition co-curated by Adrienne Shaw, Sarah Rudolph, and Jan Schnorrenberg. Rainbow Arcade featured a wide variety of exhibits spanning more than 30 years of media history, including playable games, concept drawings, fan modifications of games, and documentation of online communities. The exhibition covered contemporary pop cultural questions of representation, stereotypical and discriminatory narratives in entertainment media, and cultural memory. Research and information compiled by the LGBTQ Game Archive played an integral part in the creation of the exhibition, which was also supported by Temple University and Berlin’s Computerspielemuseum. Rainbow Arcade successfully completed a crowdfunded campaign on Kickstarter in 2018 to publish 1,000 copies of a comprehensive catalog about the exhibition.

System of Arrangement

Series I: Exhibition planning and research, 2009-2020

Subseries A: Shaw research, 2009-2020

Subseries B: Exhibition planning, 2013-2018

Series II: Exhibition documentation, 2017-2019

Series III: Exhibit catalog, 2018-2019

Series IV: Publicity, 2016-2019

Custodial History

The Rainbow Arcade collection was donated to The Strong in October 2020 as a gift of Adrienne Shaw. The collection was accessioned by The Strong under Object ID 120.4259 and received on a hard drive with two additional related digital collections.

Related Materials

The Strong received two additional related digital collections from Shaw: the LGBTQ Game Archive collection (open for research) and the Joshua D. Savage digital game documents archive (which will be available in 2021).