My Experience With Museums and Art Critics
When I kickstarted my love for Virtual Photography in 2010, I never thought I’d be the first italian Virtual Photographer to exhibit in an actual Museum Of Modern Art, but it in 2020 it just happened. Here’s my story.
As I wrote in my Bio, after working for 4 years on my late website www.eletricblueskies.com I started a partnership with the multimedia collective known as “Neoludica Project”. They brought my prints at the Milan Games Week for the first time in 2014, and since then I’m exhibiting my prints at the most important italian gaming event.
This is an out of focus yours truly, with one of my best WipeoutHD captures printed on Glass (Milan Gamesweek, 2014)
In 2016 I sold my first print and wth my great honour it was exposed in the best possible place of culture: a Library. Since then, the Biblioteca Valvassori Peroni in Milano welcomes his public with my “Caravaggesque”
This is a screenshot from Alice: Madness Returns, I called it “Caravaggesque” for its dark tones and red cue
In 2018 something new happened. I was playing ASSASSIN’S CREED: ORIGINS and in a matter of minutes I took these two very different screenshots. One was trying to recall the Camel Blue cigarettes package, the second one was reminding me of Canaletto’s paintings of the Venezia period. But my whole gallery of AC: ORIGINS was an artistic and conceptual project at that point, while I was playing with oversaturated primary colors.
Yes, you can look at them and see nothing more than a regular screenshot of AC: ORIGINS there’s nothing wrong with it. A conceptual work needs sometimes an explanation, it’s not always self-explanatory
With plenty of self-esteem and determination, I told myself that this approach to Virtual Photography, this kind of crossmedia project, could be the entire italian Virtual Photography trojan horse to an actual Museum, “where it belongs!” (quote) So in early 2019 I had a meeting with the people in charge of a small local Museum in my region (Museo Donazione Meli, Luzzana, Bergamo, Italy) and with my huge surprise they were open to me and they were willing to listen to my motivations. One of the first things that struck me was that noone, I mean totally noone had a clue of what Virtual Photography was. And I’m speaking of one Art Critic, one Professor of the Accademia Carrara in Bergamo and one actual Photographer with her own studio. I immediately realized that VP feeds itself in its social media bubble and sometimes gaming outlets give some space to it, but it is actually a niche inside another niche: Gaming. Yes I know, it’s the 2020’s and everyone plays videogames! Even Obama mentioned CD Project RED in his speech while visiting Poland and we recently saw Henry Cavill assembling his own gaming PC. You might think Gaming is finally among the normal people but no, it’s not. For many parents and for many critics gaming is still an uncharted territory. It’s a weird mix of overexposure (just think of the millions watching E3 online) and complete unawareness by a huge slice of adult, important and in position of power population (well this was my perception anyway). I spoke with those three critics, they loved my work with Photography and concept and after 1 full year and 4 meetings, they reserved a slot for me, starting the 8th of February 2020, in a branch of the museum set in a deconsecrated church. And let me tell you, the aura emanated by that place really blew my mind at that time.
These are some of the prints I brought to the exhibition
Saturday the 8th of February 2020, my crazy dream became true and I had also the honour of having Virtual Photography as a whole labelled “ready-made art” by the art critics that hosted the event.
Wow, I did not expect all these people. They had no clue of what they were looking at, but they gave me time, passion, love and attention. I’m still thrilled a full year after.
“Selfie With Horde”, probably one of my best captures ever, from DAYS GONE (Playstation 4, 2019)
What did I learn from this whole experience? I learned that outside the Gaming bubble, Virtual Photography is still an object of mistery and that the Art Community is more open minded and inclusive than the Gaming Community itself. I learned that many adults still think gaming is for children. That we might actually bring Virtual Photography to the MOMA, or LOUVRE. That we need to be crazy and think crazy to achieve our most impossible goals. That ego and determination, when well handled, fuel some positive drive. Sometimes dreams happen, sometimes not. We just have to enjoy the positive things and build our future on them. Thanks for reading, and feel free to check mio “Bio” for all the useful links regarding this event and the media coverage I received.