Digitale Welten, Analoge Verfahren: Ein Praxiskurs zwischen GameLab und Fotolabor

This pedagogical project explores the intersection of digital game culture and historical analog photography, specifically through the practice of virtual photography. By utilizing the game Red Dead Redemption II as a primary subject, the initiative challenges students to move beyond simple screen-based consumption of digital media. The core thesis posits that by materializing virtual game images through the historical cyanotype process, students can critically engage with the aesthetics of photorealism, the indexicality of photography, and the construction of historical authenticity within digital environments.

The methodology involves a multi-step practical course where students capture high-resolution in-game images using specialized tools like Nvidia Ansel, free-camera mods, and trainers to manipulate lighting and environmental variables. These digital captures are then converted into negatives and printed onto overhead transparencies. The final phase requires students to manually prepare light-sensitive paper using gelatin and a chemical emulsion of ammonium iron(III) citrate and potassium ferricyanide. The resulting prints, developed through UV exposure and water baths, transform ephemeral digital screenshots into tangible, historically resonant artifacts.

The project highlights how modern games often mimic the visual language of analog photography—such as film grain, vignetting, and optical distortions—to signify historical authenticity. By forcing these digital images into the physical, material constraints of 19th-century cyanotype printing, the process creates a meta-reflective experience. This approach effectively bridges the gap between game studies and media history, demonstrating that the "death" of traditional photography is instead a shift toward new, hybrid forms of visual practice. The course concludes that such hands-on experimentation provides a deeper, more nuanced understanding of how digital worlds are constructed, perceived, and authenticated by players.