March 21, 2025
On Games as Theory
Politecnico di Milano is proud to welcome Stefano Gualeni with "On Games as Theory" on 24th March at 14:15 CET in a new open lecture series on Interactive Digital Narrative The series is organised by Ilaria Mariani and Mariana Ciancia (Department of Design, Politecnico di Milano) and welcomes seminal scholars from around the world in dedicated lectures.
Explore theoretical ideas through games
In this talk, Prof. Stefano Gualeni presents games (both actual and fictional) as platforms for presenting, engaging with, and challenging theoretical ideas. As epistemic artifacts, games and videogames can function as rhetorical devices, transformative contexts, and vehicles for ideas that are simultaneously fictional and intellectually significant. This lecture will cover games about fiction and fictions about games, examining their theoretical value and their role as academic contributions.
The event will be online, free, and will take place at 14:15 CET. Register at the address below:
In his doctoral thesis, Flatline Constructs: Gothic Materialism and Cybernetic Theory-Fiction, English writer and cultural theorist Mark Fisher explains there are various ways in which the conceptual dichotomy between theory and fiction can be (and already has been) overcome. There are works of fiction that narrativize the process of developing (fictional) theories. Texts such as Stanisław Lem’s 1968 novel His Master’s Voice as well as a few short stories by Ted Chiang exemplify these kinds of fictional epistemic endeavours. Then, there are actual theories presented to audiences by means of fictional narratives. This is the case for novels such as Robert Pirsig’s 1974 Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, or Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1974 The Dispossessed.
Films, plays, television shows, and even videogames have similarly been created with the purpose of developing theoretical notions and/or making those notions more accessible and appealing. With a focus on playable artefacts (both actual and fictional games), this talk will make a case for the advantages of making and playing games as theoretical efforts.