EVENT: NARRATING [WITH] THE VIDEOGAME IMAGE (NOVEMBER 28–29, BARCELONA, SPAIN)

Narrating [with] the Videogame Image

Barcelona, 28–29 November 2025

Fundación Foto Colectania

C/ Passeig Picasso, 14

08003 Barcelona

Spain

Fundación Foto Colectania, in collaboration with ArsGames, presents a two-day programme on the videogame image, its narrative capacities and intersections with photography, digital art, and cinema. The event forms part of the exhibition THE ART OF NAVIGATION. How to Get Lost in a World of Images (11 June–21 December 2025), curated by Jon Uriarte at Fundación Foto Colectania.

The Art of Navigation examines how photography operates within digital culture, from video games and social media to autonomous vehicles, space exploration, and mapping. Featuring works by Sara Bezovšek, James Bridle, Alan Butler, Josèfa Ntjam, Giath Taha, Kyriaki Goni, Roc Herms, and others, it argues that images have shifted from representing the world to structuring digital space itself: clickable, swipable, and draggable. In a century marked by overlapping crises and pervasive disorientation, the exhibition proposes getting lost as a critical method that counters extractive logics tied to the history of maritime navigation.

Participating artists: Sara Bezovšek, James Bridle, Alan Butler, Carlos Carbonell, Juan Covelli, Marie Foulston, Kyriaki Goni, Roc Herms, Esther Hovers, Rayane Jemaa, Josèfa Ntjam, open-weather (Sophie Dyer | Sasha Engelmann), Giath Taha, Simon Weckert, and other internet-based practices.

In collaboration with: Sónar+D, Hangar, Radio Web MACBA, Culture Ireland, German Consulate, Embassy of Slovenia, Mondriaan Fund.

Focus of the two-day programme:

• Relations between photography and videogames as contemporary narrative languages.
• Decolonial and feminist critiques of hegemonic visual regimes.
• Experimental practices: machinima and in-game photography.
• An inclusive platform for artists, curators, researchers, students, and wider publics.

Programme

Friday, 28 November · 5:00–8:00 p.m.
Auditorium, Design Museum of Barcelona — DHub Barcelona
Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, 38C, Sant Martí, 08018 Barcelona
Free admission. In English. Advance reservation required.

• Book presentation — The Photographer’s Guide to Los Santos
  With Marco De Mutiis. A guide to photographic practice in Grand Theft Auto V, spanning technique, modding workflows, and critical approaches to digital images, fiction, and space.
• Conversation — Digital Art and Videogame Culture
  Marco De Mutiis, Jon Uriarte, Luján Oulton.
  Moderator: Luca Carrubba (ArsGames).
• Machinima screening
  A curated selection of artist videos made within videogames, between video art, cinema, animation, and game cultures.
  Programme organised with Matteo Bittanti, founder of the Milan Machinima Festival (2018—).
  In collaboration with Dirección de Innovación y Cultura Digital, Departament de Cultura, Generalitat de Catalunya.

Saturday, 29 November · 10:00 a.m.–2:00 p.m.
Fundación Foto Colectania
Passeig de Picasso, 14, Ciutat Vella, 08003 Barcelona

• Workshop — “Decolonizing the Videogame Image”
  Free with prior registration; limited capacity (first-come, first-served).
  Led by Luca Carrubba (ArsGames) and María Ignacia Ibarra (PhD, Social Anthropology, University of Barcelona).
  A theoretical-practical session reframing videogames through decolonial, feminist, and experimental perspectives. Open to artists, curators, students, activists, and anyone interested in games as cultural and artistic objects.
  Language: Catalan and Spanish. No prior experience required.

Organisation and partners
Organised by: Fundación Foto Colectania; ArsGames Association; Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya; Institut de Cultura de Barcelona.
In collaboration with: Milan Machinima Festival; Design Museum of Barcelona — DHub Barcelona.