The tenth art or the recovery of the misunderstood world of video games!
- redazione-koverart
- Sep 5, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: Jan 8
Video games have been officially recognized as art by the Italian State! Perhaps few people know it, with the exception of lovers of the genre and insiders. Yet it is not news at all: the news dates back to more than a year ago when this "investiture" arrived directly from the Ministry of Culture in agreement with the Minister of Economy.

It was a big step forward for an art (should we mention it!?) that for years has been the protagonist, engine and motivator, of a production and a market in continuous growth.
Yet, it seems that the video game is not yet perceived as art by most people who continue to see them as "toys" for "fixed" (pass me the term because it makes!).
As always, reality is made up of more reality: that of the skeptics is contrasted with that of the indisputable level reached by video games. They present themselves in all respects as a real artistic expression.
And so, from many parts comes the invitation to "baptize" the video game the "Tenth Art".
Why "tithe"? Where does this bizarre idea come from, one will wonder who considers these "products" as incomprehensible nerd pastimes.
Well, this idea comes from the ranking that the film critic Claude Beylie (1932-2001) proposed in the last century:
On radio-televisions "eighth art", the comic "ninth art", and therefore the video game would be the "tenth art".
The reason lies in the fact that in the "games" all the arts converge, they are like a multi-art container, often full of quotes or clues that make you to want to know more about certain topics.
That is, they are an invitation to knowledge, something not to be taken for granted at all. In addition, compared to cinema, also considered a "container of arts", the video game has a unique feature: interactivity.
So, the videogame is the result of creative ingenuity, it is a "container of arts", invites knowledge and has the peculiar characteristic of interactivity.
Still too little to call it art?
Honestly, I have to say that it is more than enough, admitted and not granted that there may be "requirements" to define whether a thing is art or not. The discussion is open, as always.

Meanwhile, video games continue their quantitative and qualitative growth, and not infrequently, in front of one of them, the word that comes out spontaneously from the mouth is: "masterpiece", even from those who know them little or not at all.
Perhaps this is enough to close the "dilemma" that as often happens, after long discussions, we come to the conclusion that it does not exist. It must be said that the problem does not arise, after all we are already beyond.
Reality surpasses the words that attempt to describe it.
Probably, the question of whether digital is art or not, and so is video games, is already old: we are already inside the "yes" and we must equip ourselves: play the game.
Miriam Fusconi