Claire Hentschker, GTA Image Average Series, 2017

Claire Hentschker captures the experience of playing GTA V by manipulating hundreds of videos of gameplay that have been uploaded and shared on YouTube. Employing a technique known as image averaging – a method that combines multiple exposures or frames into a single image by averaging their pixel values – she transforms the video frames into a composite still image revealing patterns or motion paths. These overlaid frames develop a painterly quality that blurs the landscapes of GTA V to the point of unintelligibility.

Significantly, the game’s avatar, consistently centred on the screen, is depicted in greater detail and evokes the posture and features of the quintessential hero of a Romantic painting. However, unlike the Rückenfigur often seen in Caspar David Friedrich’s works, these figures are engaged in dynamic activities like riding bikes or driving cars and GTA Image Average Series offers a unique perspective into the fantasy world designed by Rockstar Games — itself a metonymy of the video game imaginary — merging the avatar’s viewpoint with that of the viewer, who experiences the scene through the lens of the game.

The resulting images seamlessly blend individual gameplay with the collective experience of consuming gameplay videos, an activity that is integral to YouTube’s attention economy. This fusion creates scenes that capture the complex interplay between computer games, visual culture, and media consumption. Hentschker introduces a blurriness that creates an oneiric, impressionistic effect, suggesting that video games might be akin to lucid dreams.

More by Claire Hentschker: clairesophie.com