The video game industry is becoming one of the most important sectors in recent years, with numerous platforms and very popular representatives that are making their mark among other cultural industries.
This is how the MUVI Foundation (Galician Video Game Museum Foundation) was born in 2020, with the aim of presenting the world of video games as another space in the field of culture, and explaining the past, present and future of the industry in a transversal way for all the public. We spoke to Jacobo Nieto Martínez to find out first-hand how this organisation works.
Question: What is the MUVI Foundation?
Answer: The MUVI Foundation is the first and so far the only one in Spain dedicated exclusively to the history of videogames. An organisation recognised of Galician interest by the Xunta de Galicia in 2020, and which is already attached to the Protectorate of the Consellería de Turismo y Cultura.
Q: What are the main objectives of the Foundation?
A: The Foundation, which manages among other projects the “Video Game Museum”, has on the one hand the vision of analysing the history of video games as something continuous and alive, where past and present are common elements that always point to the future and, on the other hand, the desire to present the world of video games to the public as another form of cultural expression, with the rigorousness it deserves and in a transversal way to the entire population.
Q: What kind of activities does MUVI carry out?
A: The Foundation’s activities are based on collaboration with various Galician entities, such as the “Gañando o Futuro” project, on the good use of video games, their educational potential in teaching, with teachers and tutors together with the University of Vigo in Galicia. But we also participate with MARCO and the Carlos Casares Foundation, in their annual edition of the Conference on Video Games and Literature, with the City Council of Pontevedra in the Book Fair, with the University of A Coruña, through a virtual exhibition on “Women behind Video Games”, with Murciélago Magazine in the magazine “El Loro”, and we also work in the research project “Comparative Intermediate Studies: from interactive narratives to virtual experiences” directed by Professor Antonio J. Gil of the University of Santiago de Compostela.
Q: And at present, what project is being developed by the Foundation that stands out?
A: The “Avoo” project, together with Iseltec SL, a video game set in Galicia, focused on the elderly and families, with an unquestionable social and intergenerational component, which has already passed its alpha phase and is still under development. In addition, the University of Vigo, with its Specialist Degree in Translation for the Videogame Industry (ETIV), is carrying out the translation and localisation of the videogame.
Q: What does the Video Game Museum consist of?
A: Since February 2019, the Video Game Museum is a centre of operations that is the first permanent exhibition of video games created in Galicia and probably in Spain. In 2022 it was consolidated as a preservation centre with space for large changing exhibitions on the medium, classrooms and outreach areas for the development of projects in the field of video games and with capacity for more than 100 people. The MUVI has a significant amount of funds, the vast majority in perfect state of preservation, of high historical and economic value that is close to €100,000, according to an external and independent expert report.
Q: How do you see the future of the Museum and the Foundation in Galicia?
A: Our project is young, from an economic point of view still humble, however the institutional recognition of Galicia and other relevant actors in the world of Galician culture and industry are sufficient guarantees to trust in the future, a future with a more intense public presence and a more ambitious Videogame Museum in which we seek to collaborate with the administrations and other entities in our vocation to bring technology and culture closer to society.
