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|STEFANIA BASANO
Video games have long been underestimated by mainstream media as merely being a medium of entertainment, locked into a subcultural niche of stereotypes. But today, artists and developers are pushing the form into new territory, where games become tools for critique, storytelling, and immersive confrontation.
GTA: San Andreas (2004), Courtesy of Rockstar.
From SPEKWORK’s Gigco, a mobile game about labor precarity, to Hideo Kojima’s boundary-blurring work—including, his unreleased game OD and the installation he created with filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn Satellites (2025)—these projects show how games can challenge us to not only consume a story, but to survive it.
In Allen-Golder Carpenter’s reworking of GTA: San Andreas (2004), modified controllers strip away the illusion of choice. One controller only allows players to combat; the other disables it entirely. Players must navigate either survival with no control or freedom with no defense—mirroring real-world power dynamics. Carpenter calls this “sacrificing your arms for the promise of rain,” only to drown in its flood.
From June 28 to July 28, 2025, visitors can step into a disarmed version of the beloved classic—one that plays them back.
Are Video Games the New Movies? Hideo Kojima and Nicolas Winding Refn
Nicolas Winding Refn and Hideo Kojima, Photo: Daisuke Takeda
In Satellites (2025), an immersive installation at Prada Aoyama Tokyo, filmmaker Nicolas Winding Refn and game creator Hideo Kojima explore love, connection, and our shared addiction to screens. The exhibition blends cinema and gaming into a surreal dialogue between the two visionaries—separated by screens but united in reflection. In conversation with Shane Anderson, the two reflect on the blurring boundaries between film, games, and digital intimacy.
Gamifying Resistance: SPEKWORK’s Political Video Games
In an era where labor is gamified and automation threatens the worker, a trio of indie designers have turned the tools of Big Tech against itself. SPEKWORK’s Gigco: Escape the Gig Economy! is a mobile game that mirrors—and mocks—the realities of precarious app-based work. Ironic and critical, their approach investigates whether resistance can be staged on the very platforms it opposes. This interview explores the politics of play and what it means to simulate disempowerment in a world already built like a game.
Why Not End It Here, Right Now: HIDEO KOJIMA
“Humanity only has a hundred thousand years left, why not end it here, right now?”
As Hideo Kojima prepares to release his latest experimental game OD, which was created in collaboration with filmmaker Jordan Peele, 032c revisits a rare and revealing conversation between the legendary game designer and his longtime friend, fashion innovator Errolson Hugh. Originally published in 032c Issue #42, the dialogue explores Kojima’s prophetic storytelling, the loneliness of creation, and how video games can connect us in an increasingly disconnected world.
Digital Alchemies Resurrect the Dead
“Mona Lisa” by Mimic Productions (2020)
In an ex-crematorium turned creative studio in Berlin, Mimic Productions is breathing digital life into everything from luxury garments to long-dead cultural icons. Founded by David Bennett, the motion capture and 3D animation studio collaborates with artists, fashion houses, and even ChatGPT to generate hyperreal avatars and resurrect classic artworks, while reimagining identity in the age of digital fluidity. In conversation with Alma Leandra, Bennett reflects on his journey from Mortal Kombat to Mona Lisa, deepfakes to fashion week, and what it means to be an artist when the face you’re animating is more famous than your own.
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- Text: STEFANIA BASANO