Structura is a recently founded Italian cultural association based in Rome, dedicated to the research, preservation, promotion, and critical interpretation of video games and interactive arts as cultural heritage.
Structura is the latest project by Marco Accordi Rickards, a veteran in the field of video game cultural heritage. As director of VIGAMUS, Italy’s first video game museum, he co-founded EFGAMP in 2012 and was one of its first board members. He explains why he founded Structura and what goals the association pursues as follows: “I founded Structura to contribute to a necessary shift in how we understand and preserve video games. Too often, they are still treated as products rather than as cultural works. Structura was created to work on that gap, developing frameworks where interactive works can be studied, preserved and interpreted with the same depth and responsibility we reserve for other forms of cultural heritage. Joining EFGAMP is therefore a natural step. It means strengthening a shared European effort to give structure, continuity and long-term vision to the preservation of our interactive culture.”
Andreas Lange, COO of EFGAMP, says: “In recent months, EFGAMP has gained many new members from numerous newly founded organizations that represent the broad spectrum of stakeholders in the field of video game cultural heritage. Although Structura was also founded only recently, it represents a second wave of institutional development. It brings extensive experience and organizational resources to the field, which will help make the community’s efforts even more effective and sustainable.”
About Structura
Operating at the intersection of academia, cultural institutions and the creative industries, Structura works to position video games as fully recognised cultural artefacts and as works of interactive expression with artistic, social and historical relevance. Its mission is to build long-term frameworks for research, preservation, education and public dissemination around interactive works.
The association develops and coordinates projects in the fields of video game preservation and documentation, archival research and historical reconstruction, public programmes and conferences on interactive culture, academic collaboration and higher education initiatives, as well as cultural advocacy at national and European level. Through partnerships with universities, museums, publishers and international networks, Structura contributes to strengthening the cultural legitimacy of video games and fostering structured dialogue between heritage institutions and the interactive industry.
Structura is committed to supporting European cooperation in preservation policies, shared standards and knowledge exchange, contributing to a sustainable ecosystem for game archives, museums and research centres.
