Simone Santilli, My favourite game. Fotografia e videogioco, 2023

Photography and gaming are two of the main drivers of change in contemporary society. They respectively represent the way we look at (and understand) things and the context to which we increasingly relate the events of everyday life. In other words, our everyday life resembles a video game and reality seems to need photography to prove its consistency. The points of contact and convergence between photography and videogames thus represent a territory of artistic experimentation and theoretical research that can offer valuable insights into the phenomena that are rewriting the coordinates of our being in the world. If when we think of the relationship between photography and videogames the first thing that comes to mind is so-called in-game photography, that is, the set of photographic practices carried out within and through computer games, the relationship between the two media is much more articulated. Photography and video games are products of the industrial, military and ideological apparatus of the West and embody its cultural biases. Both are characterised by the presence of a code, which conditions the user’s freedom, and by the link with exploitation processes typical of late capitalism that monetise the investment of time and energy of players/photographers. Playing then becomes an act of exploration, deconstruction and negotiation…