Game Art: Luca Lumaca
Born in 1978, artist and videomaker Luca Lumaca uses retro-game aesthetics to make points, not simply to reach checkpoints. Thus, Pac-Man becomes a statement about the McDonaldization of Society. The high-score menu is a symbol of US imperialism. Ditto for "Democratic Export", where "democracy" is a bomb and "export" is aggression in the reinvention (or subversion) of a classic 8-bit game. In "Game Over", Pitfall is reinvented as a cemetery for unknown, dismembered soldiers. Lumaca exhibited his fascinating artworks at the Galleria San Salvatore (Modena, Italy) in 2005 as part of a retrospective titled "Something Must Have Happened in the 80s" curated by Fabiola Naldi. Simply brilliant.
(all images courtesy of the artist)Submitted by Matteo Bittanti