Virtual photograph by XenolithicYardZone

VPDC / ANNUAL YEARBOOK / 2023

2023The First Frame.

Before an archive becomes history, someone has to decide that the first image is worth keeping.

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ORIGIN / 2023

The archive begins.

The first preserved chapter is intimate by nature: fewer frames, fewer established patterns, and the beginning of a shared instinct to keep photographs that would otherwise disappear into a feed.

Every archive begins without knowing that it is an archive. There is only the first image. Then another: a landscape, a face, an unexpected arrangement of light — a photographer deciding that a transient image deserves a life beyond the moment in which it appeared.

In 2023, VPDC began collecting these decisions. Seen from the present, the photographs document virtual spaces, but also a community discovering what it wanted to remember.

282photographs preserved

92virtual worlds

75photographers

I

A YEAR IN FRAMES

Photographs before statistics.

A cross-section of the collection. Select any photograph to enter the same fullscreen viewing experience used by the Gallery.

Virtual photograph by ScorpionTank — Cyberpunk 2077 — ScorpionTankCyberpunk 2077

Virtual photograph by Lua — Assassin's Creed Valhalla — LuaAssassin's Creed Valhalla

Virtual photograph by Subleader — Cyberpunk 2077 — SubleaderCyberpunk 2077

Virtual photograph by Ghiles — Ghost Of Tsushima — GhilesGhost Of Tsushima

Virtual photograph by Azile Thims — A Plague Tale Requiem — Azile ThimsA Plague Tale Requiem

Virtual photograph by Ghiles — Assassin's Creed Black Flag — GhilesAssassin's Creed Black Flag

Virtual photograph by XenolithicYardZone — S.T.A.L.K.E.R — XenolithicYardZoneS.T.A.L.K.E.R

Virtual photograph by Karotte — FFXIV — KarotteFFXIV

Virtual photograph by AMOSOWS — Cyberpunk 2077 — AMOSOWSCyberpunk 2077

Virtual photograph by K-Man — God of War — K-ManGod of War

II

THE WORLDS OF 2023

Where our attention returned.

A graphic record of recurring attention across the archive. Frequency describes the year; it does not rank the art.

THE ANNUAL RECORD

92
worlds.

Different engines, genres and visual languages become material for the same act: deciding where to stand, when to stop and what deserves to remain.

01Cyberpunk 207748 frames

02The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim31 frames

03Red Dead Redemption 228 frames

04The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt14 frames

05Assassin's Creed Valhalla12 frames

06Hogwarts Legacy10 frames

07Baldur's Gate 36 frames

08Starfield6 frames

09Horizon Forbidden West6 frames

10Alan Wake 25 frames

III

THE PHOTOGRAPHERS

75 ways of seeing.

Every credited name is an entrance back into the Gallery. Select a photographer to explore more of their work.

Forest Totem11 frames

Napoleonofthestump10 frames

K-Man10 frames

DavidJedi10 frames

XenolithicYardZone9 frames

Ghiles9 frames

fr0sent <39 frames

FuneraLL9 frames

Winona9 frames

Revolvere9 frames

Lua9 frames

Subleader8 frames

2023 / ANNUAL RECORD

The First Frame.

Before an archive becomes history, someone has to decide that the first image is worth keeping.

This chapter is preserved as a permanent annual record.