Prior to the unveiling of Inner Migration in the Slot Machinima program of the MMF MMXXIV, the British artist, environmentalist, and scholar Andy Hughes had already captured critical acclaim with his first game-based video work, Plastic Scoop, a powerful reflection on climate change and plastic pollution, shot with/in the virtual landscapes of Grand Theft Auto V. To fully appreciate the trajectory of Hughes’ artistic journey from the sun-soaked streets of Los Santos to the neon-lit corridors of Night City, it is essential to revisit this remarkable piece.
Plastic Scoop made its debut in the context of the 2020 Milan Machinima Festival, where it was lauded for its innovative approach to environmental commentary, blending the fictional metropolis created by Rockstar Games with pressing global issues. This work not only serves as a testament to Hughes’s evolving narrative and visual style but also as a cornerstone in the dialogue between digital culture and environmental sustainability.
Even better, Plastic Scoop jolts viewers into confronting the dichotomy between the ludic fantasy and the rapidly deteriorating physical world. Hughes ingeniously appropriates the immersive, hyper-realistic graphics of Grand Theft Auto V, subverting Los Santos and turning escapist power fantasies into canvases for environmental critique. The 24 minute machinima opens with a jarring juxtaposition: a vivid crimson ocean sunset is shattered by missile fire from an ominous helicopter, while archival audio celebrates plastic innovation with an oblivious, hyperbolic zeal. This striking incongruity immediately signals Hughes’s intent to destabilize the boundaries between fabricated digital spaces and real-world ecological crises. We are then introduced to symbolic character vignettes that further this unsettling contrast, including an African American astronaut emerging from the polluted waters to explore a factory as an alien planet, a clown plummeting in slow-motion against decaying industrial backdrops, a man ritualistically shooting plastic bottles and litter on a sidewalk…
Matteo Bittanti
Works cited
Andy Hughes, Plastic Scoop, digital video, color, sound, 23’ 59”, 2019
Andy Hughes, Inner Migration, digital video, color, sound, 10’ 00”, 2023
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