BOOK: VRAL SEASON TWO IS NOW AVAILABLE

We are delighted to announce the publication of VRAL Season Two by Concrete Press. Edited by Gemma Fantacci, Luca Miranda, Riccardo Retez, Matteo Bittanti, the book is now available worldwide.

Introduced in April 2020 amidst a global pandemic, VRAL is an online platform offering screenings of machinima created by artists and filmmakers whose work lies at the intersection of video art, cinema, animation, and gaming. The program features outstanding video works selected on the basis of their cultural relevance, artistic achievement, and innovative style.

This book collects all Season Two's interviews (i.e., exhibitions 22 to 43), including extra content. Featured artists: Florian Hofnar Krepčik, Cassie McQuater, Gweni Llwyd and Owen Davies, Li Zhu, UBERMORGEN, Kent Sheely, Theo Triantafyllidis, The Cool Couple, Kara Güt, Amir Yatziv,Jamie Jancović, Deborah Findlater, Benoit Paillé, Benjamin Hall, Chloé Desmoneaux, Grayson Earle, Cecilia Hillevi Högström, Kadir Kayserilioğlu, Matthieu Cherubini, Ricardo Miranda Zúñiga, Sebastian Blank, Jonne Hansson, and Sjors Rigters.

VRAL S02 is the fourth volume in the GAME VIDEO/ART. STUDIES series, a critical and creative laboratory encouraging open dialogue, constructive debate, and sometimes idiosyncratic investigations of ideas, practices, and objects that – by their very nature – occupy different layers of today’s visual culture. Applying a comparative rather than specialized approach, GAME VIDEO/ART. STUDIES probes the most diverse visual experiences inspired by digital gaming and gives voice to a new generation of researchers as well as established scholars.

Order your copy here

NEWS: INTRODUCING MACHINIMA VERNACOLARE

We’re happy to announce the release of volume one in the new series GAME VIDEO/ART. STUDIES edited by Matteo Bittanti: Machinima vernacolare by Riccardo Retez.

Available both on Amazon and Blurb in Italian, Machinima vernacolare examines the relationship between cinema, television, and video games, focusing on fandom productions that made machinima into a recognizable expression of popular culture and one of the most popular examples of user generated content.

Retez focuses on Grand Theft Auto V’s Rockstar Editor, a popular video editing tool used to created countless machinima. The author describes the production, consumption and distribution practices within an increasingly complex media environments. The analysis, which is accompanied by six case studies, demonstrates that far from being passive users, video game players can become guerrilla video makers.

Born and raised in Florence, Riccardo Retez received a Master's Degree in Television, Cinema and New Media from the IULM University of Milan in 2019 and a Degree in Graphic Design and Multimedia from the Free Academy of Fine Arts in Florence in 2017, where he studied the relationship between technology-based art practices culture and the humanities. Passionate about cinema, video games and visual culture, in the past five years Riccardo produced, edited, and directed several short films and video clips. Machinima vernacolare is his first book.

GAME VIDEO/ART. STUDIES examines the complex interaction between digital gaming and the visual arts through academic contributions situated at the intersection of different disciplinary areas – game studies, art criticism, visual studies, media studies and cultural studies – and gives voice to a new generation of researchers as well as established scholars. Both a critical and creative laboratory, GAME VIDEO/ART. STUDIES promotes open dialogue, constructive debate, and sometimes idiosyncratic investigations of ideas, practices, and artefacts that – by their very nature – occupy different layers of today’s visual culture. Using a comparative rather than specialized approach, GAME VIDEO/ART. STUDIES probes the most diverse visual experiences inspired by digital gaming.

To learn more about Machinima vernacolare, please visit this page, which includes a video walkthrough (in Italian).

To learn more about GAME VIDEO/ART STUDIES, please click here.

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Siamo felici di annunciare la pubblicazione del primo volume della nuova collana GAME VIDEO/ART. STUDIES diretta da Matteo Bittanti: Machinima vernacolare di Riccardo Retez.

Disponibile su Amazon e Blurb in lingua italiana, Machinima vernacolare esamina il rapporto tra cinema, televisione e videogiochi e le dinamiche del fandom videoludico che ha elevato il machinima a una marca di riconoscimento delle produzioni user generated.

Retez esamina il Rockstar Editor, il software di montaggio video integrato a Grand Theft Auto V (2013),. L’autore descrive le dinamiche di produzione, consumo e distribuzione del machinima all’interno di un ecosistema mediale sempre più complesso. L’analisi, impreziosita da sei studi di caso, attesta che gli utenti di videogiochi non sono consumatori passivi di testi audiovisivi, bensì soggetti attivi in grado di comprendere e manipolare i significati variabili codificati in tali testi, proponendo sofisticati remake.

Nato e cresciuto a Firenze, Riccardo Retez ha conseguito una Laurea Magistrale in Televisione, cinema e nuovi media presso l’Università IULM di Milano nel 2019 e una Laurea in Graphic Design e Multimedia presso la Libera Accademia di Belle Arti di Firenze nel 2017, dove ha studiato la relazione tra la cultura tecnico-artistica e tradizione umanistica. Appassionato di cinema, videogiochi e culture visive, Riccardo ha realizzato numerosi cortometraggi e videoclip. Machinima vernacolare è il suo primo libro.

Laboratorio critico e creativo, la collana GAME VIDEO/ART. STUDIES promuove un dialogo aperto, un confronto costruttivo e una disamina non necessariamente ortodossa di temi, pratiche e fenomeni che, per loro natura, s’intersecano con differenti livelli della cultura visiva. Privilegiando un approccio comparativo anziché specialistico, GAME VIDEO/ART. STUDIES scandaglia le più diverse esperienze mediali ispirate dal e al videogioco per dare voce a una nuova generazione di ricercatori così come a studiosi consolidati.

Per ulteriori informazioni su Machinima vernacolare, visitate la pagina del libro, che contiene contenuti extra, tra cui una video presentazione dell’autore.

Per ulteriori informazioni su GAME VIDEO/ART STUDIES, cliccate qui.