Pixel bricolage: Machinima and production of digital art

The production of films using videogame’s software or hardware and other real-time 3D graphics programs is called machinima. This type of digital cinematic production is characterized by the appropriation of a graphic platform designed for a specific purpose - for example, to play games - for the production of films. In this article we will discuss the production of machinima as a form of digital art. The anthropological and sociological studies on art has shown that its definition is not intra-aesthetic, but part of classificatory schemes that reflect sensibilities both local and collective. With the rise of new digital media in the mid-1980s, significant changes emerged in what we mean by art. Artistic digital media are commonplace in our everyday lives. In the case of machinima, we have new narrative forms and mechanisms of creation that problematize the classical dichotomies between fiction and reality, man and machine, author and spectator, expert and lay knowledge and even art and market. More generally, digital art raises issues about its scope in terms of audience, interactivity and contemplation. The appropriation of multiple elements whose authorship is not readily ascertainable makes problematic the notions of author/artist in this new artistic form, even making us rethink current copyright laws.We suggest, finally, that the use almost artisanal of technological tools that are intended for another purpose approach the machinimist of the bricoleur. And if art shows patterns of thought, we should reflect on what is art today, and on the forms of thought being created on digital arts.