TUCSON — Avant-garde photographer Cassidy Monticelli has debuted their newest exhibition showcasing accidental screenshots taken by Nintendo Switch players.
“The exhibition at its core is about vulnerability,” said Monticelli, speaking to reporters at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. “Every one of these pictures captures a moment mistakenly frozen in time, immortalized in spite of their creator. We should aspire to be the art, not the artist.”
At an exclusive press night prior to the exhibit being open to the public, several of the contributors to Circling The Square were present, telling their own stories about their pieces.
“So yeah in this one I was trying to back out to the home screen and got my hands mixed up” said gamer Nathan Daley, pointing at a screenshot of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. “It was quite humbling, because normally I’m really good at knowing which of my hands are which.”
At a Q&A event towards the end of the night, the artist was asked where they got the idea for Circling The Square, as well as how they’ve been dealing with criticisms of the piece.
“I think the idea came to me in a moment of frustration familiar to all my contributors” said Monticelli, seemingly wiping away a tear with a velvet pocket square. “I was playing DOOM Eternal, and I was trying to close the game, I heard it. Click. I went into my gallery and I saw this image of the Level Complete screen, taunting me. That anger and shame is what I truly wanted to showcase here. Any reported lack of funding I received has nothing to do with it.”
When asked for comment, Nintendo assured us the gallery would be receiving a cease and desist as soon as possible.
