The Smithsonian American Art Museum announced yesterday that it has added two video games to its permanent collection: thatgamecompany’s hypnotic Flower, and Halo 2600, a side-scrolling de-make of Xbox shooter Halo.

Both games can be seen in the Smithsonian’s The Art of Video Games exhibition, currently on tour in the United States. In a statement, the museum called Flower — in which players control the wind — “an entirely new kind of physical and virtual choreography.” Interactivity was also cited as a reason for its inclusion in the collection, with the museum saying “the work cannot be fully appreciated through still images or video clips; the art happens when the game is played.” Halo 2600, developed in 2010 to work on the 36-year-old Atari 2600, is less obviously beautiful. Instead, it “deconstructs the gamers’ visual and virtual experience” by re-imagining the 3D shooter on a 2D plane, displaying “the ever-changing relationship between technology and creativity.”

The Art of Video Games is one of the first exhibitions to explore the forty-year evolution of video games as an artistic medium, with a focus on striking visual effects and the creative use of new technologies. It features some of the most influential artists and designers during five eras of game technology, from early pioneers to contemporary designers. The exhibition focuses on the interplay of graphics, technology and storytelling through some of the best games for twenty gaming systems ranging from the Atari VCS to the PlayStation 3.

Read more at: Smithsonian American Art Museum Acquires Video Games