CAMERA LUDICA | MARCO DE MUTIIS

Camera Ludica, In-game photography between Simulation and Appropriation (2018), an artwork by Marco De Mutiis was presented on the Digital Video Wall on the occasion of Festivalfilosofia 2022.

Camera Ludica is a visual essay dedicated to in-game photography: through these visual sequences, De Mutiis explores the recent phenomenon including a series of operations such as the screenshot, photo simulations and game mods created by the players themselves. These practices reveal a new understanding of photography and its relationship to simulations and video games.

The artist studies the technical developments with which it is possible to produce images during the game phase or even give the characters the opportunity to take their own photographs. The analysis of this research has shown how these images are becoming increasingly photorealistic, going therefore to “gamify” the act of photographing. The practices of production and consume of images coming from the gaming environment, open up to reflections on our relationships with the representation and the overcoming of the paradigm of truthfulness. Online and offline life have less and less clear outlines, and while on one hand this exposes to risks of iconological distortion, on the other it opens to an sentimental dimension of narration.