Depois dos videogames: carpintaria filosófica para uma artemídia pós-gamer

Abstract

This thesis speculates on the need to overcome the caricatures and traps contained within the gamer imaginary—a concept appropriated by the cultural industry and distanced from the utopian hacker spirit that characterized the early days of Media Art (Artemídia). The term gamer, consolidated in the first decades of the 21st century, has become associated with a predatory exploitation of repertoires and devices that have lost track of their origins as ludic experiments in technological appropriation. Yet beyond the clichés of violence and addiction, a counterculture of indie games has emerged, resisting these stereotypes by transforming game mechanics and narratives into critical and philosophical tools. This work proposes a return to Media Art as a field of experimentation with computation as a metamedium capable of activating technopolitical creativity. To this end, it conceptualizes two analytical categories: transcendent Media Art and immanent Media Art. Transcendent Media Art questions the limits of time and space in the metaverse, challenging the hegemonic ludo-narratives of the industry. Its self-critical and essayistic works decelerate the pace of technological accelerationism, calling into question the very continuity of technology itself. However, this approach may be accused of alienation, as—despite its critique of the metaverse—it fails to move beyond oneiric experiences to propose concrete alternatives. Immanent Media Art, on the other hand, focuses on the materiality of the metamedium, reclaiming the historical legacy of computation and the libertarian utopia of hacker cyberspace. Yet this perspective risks being interpreted as technodeterminist, constrained by materialist stalemates that hinder a rupture with the technopolitical status quo. Concluding with a pedagogical experiment in philosophical carpentry, this thesis seeks to converge these two categories by maintaining a constant tension between "the time of artisanal writing" (with its affective value) and "the pragmatic time of code" (with its productive optimization). This approach aims to ensure that the creative process and technopolitical imagination are not lost to the seduction of automated efficiency, thereby proposing an alternative path for the return of utopias capable of inspiring new imaginary media.