Video games, often seen as merely commercial and interactive, are emerging as a powerful art form. How do you think they fit into contemporary art and contribute to reinventing creative and narrative practices? 

I believe it is simply a natural progression in a digital society. Games are an undeniable part of contemporary art—whether in manipulable sculptures, installations, and performances, Like the works known as Bichos by Lygia Clark in 1960. What we are witnessing is the transformation of these interactions into a virtual universe. It was only a matter of diffusion and accessibility to the tools and resources that enable the development of a video game.  

The advancement of the industry and the capabilities of graphics has allowed us to exist in a time when highly advanced simulation technology can now be fully produced and distributed by an individual, in contrast to the collective effort of an entire studio. This mirrors what was observed with light art, video art, and photography. 

The acceptance and assimilation of video games as an artistic medium depends on the understanding of how institutionalized and profitable their value is within the art market. However, I believe that after the boom of digital art—driven by blockchain in recent years—art has begun fostering discussions that are more attuned to the time in which they should take place, much like what is happening now with the rise of artificial intelligence.

What video games bring to art is a new approach to collaboration and the dissolution of authorship—the myth of the solitary artist is replaced by a direct relationship with a community that builds its own knowledge libraries, which video games help establish. Video games incorporate different narratives, possibilities, tools, and mechanisms, centralizing and decentralizing identities to construct a reality. Video games function as emulators, capable of predicting paths and proposing solutions based on individual and collective efforts in response to designed and proposed events. 

Third World: The Bottom Dimension explores decolonialism and decentralization. How did you create a world that challenges colonial histories and redefines identity and power? 

It is a project that encourages awareness of individual responsibility in relation to the established world. The main motivation during the R&D phase was to create an experience that questions the replication of colonial notions of navigation in virtual environments, inviting the player to rethink the given mission and their role in encounters and challenges. 

Third World aims to engage in discussions that go beyond the individual, addressing the other and their territories. The entire development process was a journey of connection between different areas of knowledge, shared not only by me but also by the collaborating artists. 

How did your Latin American cultural background influence the game's design? 

My practice generally responds to the investigation of the consequences of inequality, segregation, and genocide on both conscious and unconscious levels within the Latin American context. Perhaps I approach this subject with a sense of urgency because I grew up in the outskirts of Rio de Janeiro, relying on public services. 

It is a journey through contrasts—a deep relationship between violence and beauty, a postcard of dead rivers, and an endless cycle of fantasies amid the war on drugs. Brazilian dramaturgy, cinema, and theater also influence my writing, while Carnival and folklore shape the aesthetics and movement of what I seek to weave visually. 

How does the creation of worlds like Igba Tingbo challenge Western notions of progress and offer alternative, more harmonious ways of relating to the environment and culture? 

All the landscapes in Third World are designed as reactions of the inhabitants to fictional climatic conditions. Each environment follows its own timeline, shaped by actions that alter it in a spoken manner. The history of its inhabitants is the history of their relationship with the territory and its evolving matter. All collectible resources are finite, and all collectibles are experiences rather than objects.   

How does the game, through collaboration with artists from the African diaspora, reflect a collective vision of rethinking post-colonial identity and power? How do you see video games as a medium for confronting colonial discourses and engaging players with social and environmental issues?

The game echoes contemporary debates through the lens of diaspora artists and their experiences of displacement. It invites the player to engage with the world as we understand it—starting from us, but not as us or for us. 

The development process was intimate and Dadaist, with collaborating artists translating their practices into a gamified reality, each responding to each other's vision in different intensities and at different times. I see the project as a shared notebook—one that only fully reveals a collective path through lived experience.