FROG 2024 | Flavia Mazzanti & Manuel Bonell | Surreal Worlds and Digital Distopias

Surreal Worlds and Digital Dystopias: Art and Games in Times of Chaos
by
Flavia Mazzanti & Manuel Bonell
Abstract
In an era defined by multiple crises - such as climate change, wars, and economic instability - the intersection of games and art offers a unique lens through which to explore our collective anxieties and hopes. This talk examines how past art movements have emerged as a means of conveying specific emotions driven by the complexities of their times, while also exploring fantastical and dystopian worlds. These imaginary realms merge uncanniness and grotesqueness with a surreal sense of possibility and resilience, providing a space for both confronting our fears and imagining paths to hope and renewal.
The discussion will highlight how artists from the past and today’s game developers use surreal worlds and elements to reflect on the human condition in times of chaos. By looking at different époques and past crises, particularly the postwar surrealist era, parallels and contrasts will be made between the artistic responses of that time and some contemporary video games. Artists like Francis Bacon, Zdzisław Beksiński, and Leonora Carrington created haunting, surreal landscapes deeply influenced by the horrors of war and its aftermath.
Just as surrealist art conveyed emotions shaped by the crises and uncertainties of its time, video games as a medium can evoke similar emotional responses. Games like “Scorn” (2022), “The Utility Room” (2023), and “Still Wakes the Deep” (2024) explore themes of eerie uncanniness, megalophobia, distorted bodies, and horrific monumental landscapes in ways that reflect the emotional depth found in surrealist art.
By drawing these parallels and examining the differences, the talk will look at postwar surrealism in art and its consequential forms of expression, tracing its influence in contemporary media such as video games
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This talk was part of the conference "FROG - Future and Reality of Gaming" 2024 | "Gaming the Apocalypse" | 11 - 13 October 2024 | www.frogvienna.at
FROG 2024 is organised by the Center for Applied Game Studies (University for Continuing Education Krems) and funded by the Austrian Federal Chancellery (Sektion VI - Families and Youth).