Pascal Greco
Nature Numérique: Photographier le jeu vidéo par Pascal Greco
May 21 - June 5 2025
Musée Suisse du JeuRue du Château 11
1814 La Tour-de-Peilz, Switzerland
(English below)
Dans les années 1990, les mondes numériques ont souvent été pensés comme dissociés du réel : d’un côté, la réalité, le tangible. De l’autre, le virtuel, vu comme un simple divertissement, sans impact écologique ou politique. Face à la prolifération d’images générées par intelligence artificielle, de la remise en question des valeurs partagées qui permettent de faire société, de l’exploitation de nos échanges par le capitalisme de plateforme, force est de constater que les images « virtuelles » sont devenues politiques. Confronté à une culture visuelle générique, il devient crucial de repenser notre rapport aux images. Le travail de Pascal Greco s’inscrit dans cette perspective, en déplaçant la question du réalisme vers celle du sensible. À travers la photographie in-game, il interroge la tension entre réel et virtuel, questionnant la culture visuelle contemporaine et notre capacité d’action. Envisageant l’humain comme interface sensible, son travail refuse une vision technologique des images et privilégie l’expérience subjective : en photographiant des paysages de jeux vidéo, il questionne la frontière entre le réel et le virtuel et propose de renouer avec une écologie de l’attention et du sensible, condition essentielle pour repenser notre rapport au monde.
In the 1990s, digital worlds were often conceived as separate from reality: on one side, the tangible world; on the other, the virtual, regarded as mere entertainment, devoid of ecological or political consequence. Today, confronted with the proliferation of AI-generated imagery, the erosion of shared social values, and the commodification of our interactions by platform capitalism, it is clear that so-called “virtual” images have become political. In the face of an increasingly generic visual culture, it is vital to reconsider our relationship to images. Pascal Greco’s work responds to this imperative by shifting the focus from realism to sensibility. Through in-game photography, he explores the tension between the real and the virtual, interrogating contemporary visual culture and our capacity for agency within it. Conceiving the human as a sensitive interface, his work rejects a purely technological understanding of images and instead foregrounds subjective experience. By photographing video game landscapes, Greco probes the boundary between reality and simulation, advocating for a renewed ecology of attention and sensibility—an essential condition for rethinking our relationship to the world.
Pascal Greco is a Swiss-Italian self-taught filmmaker and photographer whose work often explores the interplay between architecture and landscape. His projects have been exhibited internationally, reflecting a deep engagement with both urban environments and natural settings. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, Greco innovatively turned to video games as a medium for artistic exploration. Unable to travel to Iceland for a photography project, he immersed himself in the virtual landscapes of Death Stranding, a game renowned for its expansive, Iceland-like terrains. Utilizing the game's photo mode, Greco captured images that emulate traditional photography, challenging the distinctions between virtual and real-world imagery. This endeavor culminated in his photobook Place(s), which presents these in-game photographs in a Polaroid format, prompting discussions about the evolving nature of photography in digital realms.
LINK: Nature Numérique
