Babycastles

Babycastles is an indie game development collective, arcade, and art space in New York City.

Babycastles
Address145 W. 14th Street
LocationNew York City
Website
babycastles.com

Programming

The Babycastles arcade was designed to give independent game developers a public place to show their projects, and to establish such games as a social culture for New York City.[1] The arcade was originally co-located with the music venue Silent Barn in Queens. On most nights each week, the Babycastles basement arcade of indie and amateur video games opened during music shows upstairs. The space was open for those who paid for entrance to the upstairs show. The arcade's several games and their curators rotated on a monthly basis and were set in scavenged, do-it-yourself arcade cabinets. The New York Times likened it to "a 1970s rec room reimagined by hackers".[2] In its current Manhattan space, it remains closer in configuration to a DIY punk space than an art gallery.[3]

The venue has hosted a recurring video game tournament called Hot Ronny's Rumble.[3] Other events and exhibitions include the 2014 book release for Julian Assange's When Google Met WikiLeaks[4] and the 2016 "Yo Fight My Mans", curated by Ashok Kondabolu and including five weeks of art installations, live DJs, panel discussions, and a custom fighting video game.[5]

History

Kunal Gupta and Syed Salahuddin started the Babycastles collective in 2009[6] in the basement of Silent Barn, a Ridgewood, Queens, cooperative performance space where Gupta lived. Following a robbery in mid-2011 and closure by zoning violations, a search began for a new space, which they opened in May 2013 in Bushwick, Brooklyn.[7] Babycastles opened in Chelsea, Manhattan, on 14th Street in 2014.[8] The owner of its building specifically sought to rent it to artists. Babycastles chose the location based on its equal proximity to New York's five boroughs.[3]

References
  1. Heater, Brian (June 3, 2011). "Babycastles brings its indie arcade action to The Engadget Show (video)". Engadget. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
  2. Ryan, Hugh (February 10, 2011). "An Arcade to Make Gamers Cry". The New York Times.
  3. Biery, Thomas (October 21, 2016). "New York City's strangest video game tournament". Polygon. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  4. Camp, James (September 25, 2014). "Julian Assange: 'When you post to Facebook, you're being a rat'". The Guardian.
  5. Chiaverina, John (February 12, 2016). "Gentrifying Fishtanks, Indian Television, and 'Dead' Rappers: Ashok 'Dapwell' Kondabolu Presents 'Yo Fight My Mans' At Babycastles". ARTnews.com. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  6. Pasternack, Alex (May 19, 2011). "Invading Babycastles: New York's Underground Gaming Hub". Vice. Retrieved July 12, 2020.
  7. Feuer, Alan (May 25, 2013). "Joyful Noise in Silent Barn, an Alt-Arts Mecca". The New York Times.
  8. Fishbein, Rebecca (October 30, 2014). "The 11 Best Small Music Venues In NYC". Gothamist. Retrieved July 12, 2020.

Further reading

Media related to Babycastles at Wikimedia Commons

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