Alvaro Salvagno is a Montreal-based Uruguayan multi-disciplinary artist working with video-games, interactive installations and film. Through his work, he experiments with the notions of digital file permanence, the space virtual worlds occupy and what remains when video-games are stripped of their commercial iconography.
He’s currently working on été, a game about painting.
ARTIST’S STATEMENT
The purpose of my work is to disrupt existing ideas in video-game consumption by taking out what is canonically deemed essential. By removing recognizable icons in well-known games, or stripping out vital gameplay elements, I’m trying to explore the possibility of new forms of interaction rooted in pre-acquired knowledge and past experiences. What remains when Mario is removed from games we played as kids? How do we engage with Hyrule when there are no monsters to kill?
In my current work, I’m exploring the idea of what makes reproductible, virtual objects unique and how this notion affects the way users experience them. What is there to remember about a deleted computer file?
contact : alvaro.salvagno (at) gmail.com