Kid A Mnesia Exhibition

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This article is about the video game. For the album, see Kid A Mnesia.
Kid A Mnesia Exhibition
Kid A Mnesia Exhibition digital cover.png
Developer(s)
  • Namethemachine
  • Arbitrarily Good Productions
Publisher(s)Epic Games
Producer(s)
  • Matthew Davis
  • Namethemachine
  • Arbitrarily Good Productions
Programmer(s)
  • Namethemachine
  • Arbitrarily Good Productions
Artist(s)
Composer(s)
EngineUnreal Engine
Platform(s)
Release18 November 2021
Genre(s)Exploration
Mode(s)Single-player

Kid A Mnesia Exhibition is a 2021 exploration game published by Epic Games for macOS, Windows and PlayStation 5. It serves as a digital exhibition of music and artwork created for the Radiohead albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001). It was developed by Namethemachine, Arbitrarily Good Productions and Epic Games, with Radiohead singer Thom Yorke, producer Nigel Godrich and artist Stanley Donwood.

Kid A Mnesia Exhibition was conceived as a physical installation artwork, but this was canceled by logistical problems and the COVID-19 pandemic. It was announced alongside the compilation album Kid A Mnesia and released 18 November 2021 as a free download. It received positive reviews, with critics praising its intersection of music, art and technology.

Content[]

Kid A Mnesia Exhibition is an exploration game based on the music and artwork of the Radiohead albums Kid A (2000) and Amnesiac (2001). Players move through a virtual museum, examining artwork and listening to music from the albums.[1] The New Yorker described the museum as "a brutalist cathedral full of byzantine corridors, majestic rooms, banks of buzzing cathode-ray-tube televisions, and carpets of fluttering sketchbook pages".[2] Players cannot die, there are no enemies, there is no score system, and there are no levels to complete.[1][2]

Development[]

Kid A Mnesia Exhibition was conceived as a physical installation artwork to be constructed from shipping containers and exhibited in cities around the world.[3] It was first planned for the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, but would not fit; plans to build it into the side of the Royal Albert Hall were rejected by Westminster City Council.[3] Singer Thom Yorke and artist Stanley Donwood, who create the artwork for Radiohead albums, envisioned a building "constructed so that it looked as if a brutalist spacecraft had crash-landed into the classical architecture ... This astounding steel carapace would be inserted into the urban fabric of London like an ice pick into Trotsky."[3] The plans were ultimately cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the focus shifted towards creating a digital exhibition that "didn't have to conform to any normal rules of an exhibition. Or reality."[3]

The game was developed over two years by Namethemachine and Arbitrarily Good Productions with Yorke, Donwood and Radiohead producer Nigel Godrich.[4] They worked with artist and creative director Sean Evans, theatre set designer Christine Jones and producer Matthew Davis, head of Namethemachine.[5] The team had the guiding principle of exhibiting no new work; according to a blog post by Yorke and Donwood, everything in the exhibition came from material made while Radiohead were recording Kid A and Amnesiac.[3]

Release[]

Kid A Mnesia Exhibition was announced on 9 September, 2021.[6] It was released as a free download for macOS, Windows, and PlayStation 5 on 18 November 2021.[4] Promotional Radiohead items were released for the multiplayer games Rocket League, Fall Guys and Fortnite.[7]

Reception[]

Jay Peters of The Verge wrote that Kid A Mnesia Exhibition was "full of strikingly beautiful rooms" and "worth checking out as a very literal expression of the idea that video games can be art".[8] NME wrote that it was a "deeply beautiful solo trip through what appears to be an apocalyptic wasteland, before little pockets of beauty show themselves in unexpected places, poking out of the darkness".[1] The New Yorker named Kid A Mnesia Exhibition one of the best games of the year, writing that it "provokes exploration, reflection, and a new way of listening".[2]

References[]

  1. ^ a b c Richards, Will (18 November 2021). "Radiohead's Kid A Amnesiac exhibition is as untraditional, warped and magical as the band itself". NME. Retrieved 20 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ a b c Parkin, Simon (12 December 2021). "The best video games of 2021". The New Yorker. Retrieved 14 December 2021.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  3. ^ a b c d e Yorke, Thom; Donwood, Stanley (18 November 2021). "Radiohead explain the story behind the creation of its Kid A Mnesia Exhibition, out today on PS5". PlayStation.Blog. Retrieved 19 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ a b Stanton, Rich (18 November 2021). "Radiohead's freaky-looking Kid A Mnesiac exhibition-game-thing is out (and free!)". PC Gamer. Retrieved 20 November 2021.
  5. ^ Kreps, Daniel (11 November 2021). "Take a tour through Radiohead's artwork in Kid A Mnesia Exhibition". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 19 November 2021.
  6. ^ Tarantola, A. (9 September 2021). "Radiohead and Epic Games team up for a virtual Kid A Mnesia exhibit". Engadget. Retrieved 10 September 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  7. ^ Smith, Graham (20 November 2021). "Radiohead is now in Fall Guys, Fortnite and Rocket League". Rock Paper Shotgun. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
  8. ^ Peters, Jay (18 November 2021). "Kid A Mnesia Exhibition is an unsettling and beautiful Radiohead art exhibit". The Verge. Retrieved 20 November 2021.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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