Federica Sasso’s multidisciplinary project, Battle Royale, is part of an ongoing, in-depth, and long-term exploration of the relationship between Gen Z, gaming, and new technologies. Drawing on the visual nostalgia of the Internet and the lo-fi trends in youth-driven “-core” movements, the artist presents a VR experience that delves into feelings of entrapment, bullying, and suffocation. A kind of dramatic showcase set within liminal virtual spaces and referred-performative shows. Through pure self-portraits and detailed depictions of young adults — some in aseptic environments, others captured mid-game — Sasso prompts us to reflect on a renewed relationship with the body, marked by both confidence and vulnerability, presence and absence, juxtaposed with aspirations and divergences that involve playful avatars, escapism, and imagination. The choice to employ a nonlinear narrative, suspended between understanding and confusion, between virtual and real, and its revelation of the process and hidden elements of creation, symbolically suggests a profound and contemporary communicative gap. What is virtual in the real, and what is real in the virtual?

Produced in collaboration with Alma Mater University (Bologna, Italy) Computer Science department and professor Gustavo Marfia, Virtual and Augmented Reality Lab (VARLAB).

Graphic design: Maria Chiara Moro

Coding and computing: Igor Urevici, Ulderico Vagnoni, Lorenzo Stacchio, Paola Persico, Gianluca Spiller

INDEX

FIG.1 Paradiso, still from video, 2023

FIG.2 Medea, framed fine art print, 2023

FIG. 3 Croce, still from video, 2023

FIG.4 Walk #1, still from video, 2023

FIG. 5 Walk, video, 2023

FIG. 6 Andrea framed fine art print, 2022

FIG. 7-10-21 Avatars, video, 2020

FIG. 8 Mattia, framed fine art print, 2023

FIG. 9 Agata, framed fine art print, 2022

FIG. 11 Scomporsi, still from video, 2022

FIG. 12 Sguardi, video, 2023

FIG. 13 Walk #2, still from video, 2023

FIG. 14-15 Bocca, still from video, 2021

FIG. 16 Mano, still from video, 2021

FIG. 17 Madonna, framed fine art print, 2023

FIG. 18 Looking for God, still from video, 2023

FIG. 19 Gruppo, video, 2023

FIG. 20 Fabio, framed fine art print, 2022

FIG. 22 Avatar, framed fine art print, 2022

FIG. 23 Accerchiamento, video, 2023

FIG. 24 Buio, still from video, 2023

FIG. 25 Stringere, framed fine art print, 2022

FIG. 26 Battle Royale, poster, 2023

FIG. 27 Lisa, framed fine art print, 2023

FIG. 28 Battle Royale, poster, 2023

FIG. 29 Battle Royale, installation view, 2022

FIG. 30 Eleonora, framed fine art print, 2022