Arca Arcade creates custom arcade cabinets that function as playable artworks, combining contemporary art with the culture and mechanics of classic video games. Designed and built in Aotearoa New Zealand by artist and designer Preston McNeil, the cabinets transform the familiar arcade machine into an interactive platform for storytelling, collaboration and exhibition.
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Arca Arcade cabinets are wall-mounted arcade machines designed for galleries, exhibitions and collectors. Each cabinet houses a custom video game created in collaboration with artists, animators and designers. The works combine tactile arcade controls with moving image, illustration and sound to create a playable artwork.
Arca Arcade explores how the arcade cabinet can operate as an interactive art object. Drawing on the design language of 1980s and 1990s arcade machines, the project reinterprets gaming hardware as a platform for contemporary art practice.
Growing up in Ngongotahā, Aotearoa New Zealand during the 1980s, Preston McNeil spent countless hours playing arcade games, or “spacies,” in local game parlours. After completing a Bachelor of Design, he bought and upgraded arcade cabinets, developing a deep understanding of their design and mechanics.
This exploration led to Arca Arcade, an ongoing project that reimagines the arcade cabinet as a form of interactive contemporary art. First presented in the exhibition Arca Arcade: Round One, the project brings together McNeil’s design background, technical skills, and lifelong connection to arcade culture, inviting audiences to experience arcade machines as playable artworks.