Tsardom 3.10.
2024-...
Virtual Photography
Game Boy console + Game Boy Camera
128x112 cm
Photoreportage
Tsardom 3.10. is a project Maxim Zmeyev created through in-game photography to explore the colonial and imperial narratives actively promoted in Russian video games. By using pixelated photographic images, the project visually emphasizes the decay of these vivid and propagandistic representations, highlighting and critically analyzing the cultural and ideological aspects permeating Russia's gaming industry.
Games are a powerful medium, not just for entertainment, but for shaping worldviews. In the Russian context, video games often serve as tools of propaganda, supporting ideas of national superiority and historical revisionism. Through Tsardom 3.10., the project investigates how these ideas are embodied in the gaming world and how they influence the perception of history and contemporary reality.
The development of the Russian video game market in the 21st century has been uneven. Following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, most international game developers, distributors, publishers, and console manufacturers left the Russian market. At the same time, the Russian government began drafting new laws aimed at promoting "traditional Russian values" in domestic video games and funding games that present the "correct representation of events in national and world history, as well as the place and role of Russia in the world." While the average development cycle for a high-budget video game is about five years, games reflecting contemporary Russian policies promoting imperial perspectives and colonialism have already begun to emerge.
Even before these recent events, propaganda in Russian video games had played a significant role since the early 21st century. In shooters, the protagonists encountered were often SMERSH officers, KGB agents, or special forces soldiers defending Russia's interests and saving the world. Strategy and tactical simulation games frequently used World War II as a setting, with players fighting on the Soviet side to "save the world." The most famous flight simulator created in Russia, dedicated to the IL-2 aircraft, showcases the most mass-produced combat aircraft in aviation history, produced since 1941.
Over the last quarter-century, many Russian players have fought for their country’s interests in virtual worlds - conquering new territories, killing foreigners, and defending the idea of Russian exceptionalism.
Visually, Tsardom 3.10. consists of photographs captured inside video games created in the Russian Federation. All photographs were taken using a Game Boy Camera cartridge on a portable Game Boy console. The low resolution of the resulting image—just 128x112 pixels—and the exclusively black-and-white format create a sense of intentional degradation. To achieve color photographs, the same scene was photographed three times—through red, green, and blue filters—and later combined into one image.
This method of obtaining color photographs from black-and-white negatives mirrors the technique popularized by Sergey Mikhaylovich Prokudin-Gorsky, a pioneer of Russian color photography. Prokudin-Gorsky developed a groundbreaking process at the beginning of the 20th century, capturing the Russian Empire and its colonies in vivid color using a similar method. He would take three separate monochromatic images of the same scene, each through a different colored filter—red, green, and blue—just as in this project. The three images would then be projected together through corresponding filters, producing a full-color photograph.
Prokudin-Gorsky’s technique was revolutionary at the time, offering one of the earliest methods of achieving true color photography long before modern color film existed. His most renowned project, The Russian Empire in Color, was commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II. Traveling across the vast empire, Prokudin-Gorsky documented everything from landscapes to daily life, including portraits of people from various regions and social classes. His work created an unprecedented color record of pre-revolutionary Russia.
By using Prokudin-Gorsky's method in this project, a connection is drawn between historical and contemporary ways of visualizing the empire, exploring how techniques from the past can be reinterpreted within modern digital environments. The process highlights the tension between nostalgia for imperial grandeur and the pixelated decay inherent in the visual language of video games, underscoring how both the historical and virtual worlds shape our understanding of power and identity.
The project's title, Tsardom 3.10., refers to the Thrice-tenth Tsardom, an "other" or "unreal" country in Russian folklore. In these tales, the hero ventures into a distant realm, separated from the ordinary world by obstacles like dense forests or fiery rivers. This world often symbolizes the afterlife or a place of abundance. According to folklorist Vladimir Yakovlevich Propp, it’s a journey in search of what the hero lacks in earthly life. In this symbolic context, Tsardom 3.10. represents the elusive and unreal worlds found in games, where players enact roles of conquest and defense, far removed from real-world consequences.
Most of the photographs included in the project were taken in games published over the past 20 years. According to “Important Stories” and the independent investigative organization CIT, the average age of a Russian mobilized soldier killed in the war with Ukraine is 33—the same as the average age of video game players in Russia.
Through Tsardom 3.10., Maxim Zmeyev aims to provoke critical reflection on how video games shape public perception and support certain ideological structures. The project calls for awareness and reevaluation of the narratives we accept, stimulating discussion about the role of media in the modern world. This project is not just about video games; it’s an exploration of how media can reinforce specific views and beliefs, urging viewers to reflect on their perceptions and to approach the games they play with greater criticality.
