During the celebrations of the Italian Video Game Awardsas part of the latest edition of Rome VideoGame Labthe prize was awarded to CUCCHI Best Applied Game 2022. The game was rewarded by a jury made up of experts, who particularly appreciated the digitization of the artist’s works Enzo Cucchi.
The other finalist titles of this edition of the award were: Behind the Light by Idra Interactive Studios, HWÆT! by CNR-ITD, The Rude Awakening by 101% and Symbiosis by Whitesock.
Cucchi is the Best Applied Game 2022
The jury that awarded the prize was composed of Luca Roncella (Head of Gaming & Digital Interactivity of the Leonardo da Vinci National Museum of Science and Technology in Milan), Mariarosaria Nardone (researcher in Didactics and Special Pedagogy of the University of Bologna, member of the Research Center on Media and Technologies and of the Center for Studies on Gender and Education of the University of Bologna) and Andrea Dresseno (President of the IVIPRO Association).
CUCCHI was originally based on the desire to create a personal archive of the artist Enzo Cucchi. An alternative to a classic portfolio on the website. But soon the concept became a layered exploration videogame. Each of these is characterized by different settings and visual effects, consistent with the artist’s works (appropriately digitized). By exploring the levels the player will unlock the real archive-gallery part of the game. A project that testifies to how new and old technologies can improve and enrich each other.
Below are the motivations of the jurors at the time of assigning the Best Applied Award to CUCCHI:
“Cuccchi is an original and experimental title, an immersive and hypnotic experience capable of enhancing the relationship with the artistic space with great competence and attention, of bringing those who play into the works of the artist Enzo Cucchi. It is an archive that comes to life in a playful way, a more unique than rare case; an applied game that manages to avoid didactic drifts, which is not a foregone conclusion. Aesthetics consistent with message and content and an incisive and enveloping sound design help to create a dreamlike and surreal, fantastic and surprising video game, and therefore also inclusive. A significant and noteworthy result: Cuccchi is a compendium of art that also becomes an artistic work. The game unanimously wins the award as Best Applied Game 2022. “