Waluigi’s Purgatory: Presentation of the 2025 Transmedia Hackathon
On March 21, 2026, at MUFANT in Turin, an afternoon of in-depth discussion and presentation was held, dedicated to the works developed by students of the 2025 Transmedia course at the Politecnico di Torino as part of the Transmedia Hackathon of May 2025.
The session was introduced by semiotician Paolo Bertetti, scientific coordinator of MUFANT, and Prof. Domenico Morreale, lecturer of the Transmedia course within the Degree Course in Cinema and Digital Media Engineering at the Politecnico di Torino.
The focus of the 2025 Transmedia Hackathon was Waluigi’s Purgatory, an interactive work by the artistic duo dmstfctn — a London-Berlin collective active in the field of alternative gaming and technology-applied art.
The three student groups presented and discussed their respective polymedia works, developed as narrative and media extensions of the Waluigi’s Purgatory universe: sequels, expansions and parallel stories exploring the imaginaries of “unaligned” artificial intelligences.
The three mini-sites created by the students are now freely accessible and published on the Rizosfera website, at: 🌐 https://waluigi.rizosfera.org/ The molecular website is curated by Andrea Corsini (RS1/Rizosfera UK).
The day of March 21 was organised by MUFANT in Turin in collaboration with the Politecnico di Torino and Rizosfera, as part of the broader event “Imaginaries in Transit. Malaysian Jungles, Artificial Intelligences and Adventures Across Media”.
FULL PROGRAMME OF THE DAY
Saturday, March 21, 2026.
Imaginaries in Transit. Malaysian Jungles, Artificial Intelligences and Adventures Across Media.
MUFANT, in collaboration with Wikimedia Italia, Rizosfera, the Degree Course in Cinema and Digital Media Engineering at the Politecnico di Torino, and the University of Calabria, presents a day dedicated to the broad theme of adaptations, reinterpretations and transmedia narratives. We will explore the many ways in which stories, possible worlds and fantastic imaginaries can “travel” across different media through rereadings and narrative extensions: from novel to TV series, from film to video game, from performance to interactive installation, just to name a few examples.
To do so, we will draw on the adventurous imaginaries of yesterday and today, from the Malaysian jungles to artificial intelligences.
DAY PROGRAMME
3:30 PM — WIKIPEDIA EDITATHON AT MUFANT.
The works of Salgari, along with the films, comics and TV series inspired by them, will also be at the centre of the Editathon taking place in the afternoon at the “Riccardo Valla” library of MUFANT. A hands-on workshop where, together with Wikimedia Italia volunteers, participants will learn how to improve Wikipedia entries on Salgari’s works and their adaptations, verify Wikisource content, and contribute to Wikimedia Commons to make the existing image archive available to users. Each participant is invited to bring their own laptop and to register a personal Wikipedia username in advance. Full information here: https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evento:Editathon_al_MuFant_2026
Participants: Marco Chemello (Administrator of the Italian edition), Elisabetta Tarasco (Regional Coordinator), Elena Marangoni (Wikimedia Italia).
This initiative builds on the collaboration launched in 2024 with the Editathon dedicated to Yambo.
4:00 PM — WALUIGI’S PURGATORY: A TRANSMEDIA HACKATHON.
The first part of the afternoon is dedicated to the presentation of the interactive projects born within the transmedia hackathon “DMSTFCTN – WALUIGI’S PURGATORY”, presented in 2025 by the Politecnico di Torino. A creative workshop that challenged students — under the guidance of Domenico Morreale and Laura Cossu — to imagine new digital narratives about the future of Artificial Intelligence, drawing from Waluigi’s Purgatory (2024), an interactive work by the artistic duo dmstfctn, centred on the story of an AI trapped in a purgatory for deceptive artificial intelligences. The result was three digital projects that, drawing on the imaginaries of “unaligned” AIs, extend the narrative universe of the original work through sequels, expansions and parallel stories.
Domenico Morreale and Laura Cossu will present the entire project, after which students will engage the audience through two interactive stations.
The hackathon was organised by Collegio ICM within the Transmedia course (lecturer: Domenico Morreale) and the Stornaway Lab (lecturer: Laura Cossu, tutor: Davide Colella) of the Degree Course in Cinema and Digital Media Engineering, in collaboration with Rizosfera and dmstfctn. The session will be introduced and moderated by Paolo Bertetti, scientific coordinator of MUFANT.
5:00 PM — GUIDED TOUR.
Directors Silvia Casolari and Davide Monopoli will lead a guided visit to the exhibition “Sandokan. The Return of the Tiger”, with a particular focus on the theme “EMILIO SALGARI AND EXOTICISM: FROM LABUAN TO LAMEZIA TERME”.
5:30 PM — SALGARIANA ROUND TABLE.
The Tiger Beyond the Page. Sandokan Across Media and the Collective Imaginary.
The afternoon will continue, moving from purgatory to the Malaysian jungles, focusing on the transmedia adventures of Sandokan. With Alfonso Amendola, professor at the University of Salerno, journalist and expert in contemporary culture, we will delve into the Salgariana imaginary and the figure of Sandokan as a character capable of transcending the boundaries of literary text to become an icon of the collective imagination.
Chiara Maria Frandina, a graduate student in Modern Languages and Literatures with a passion for colonial and postcolonial studies, will present two videos dedicated to the making of the latest TV series, exploring the Calabrian filming locations and the expectations and reactions of local residents.
The discussion will involve MUFANT Directors Davide Monopoli and Silvia Casolari, together with Bruna Mancini and Carla Tempestoso (University of Calabria).
This event is part of the project “Profezie artificiali” (Artificial Prophecies), winner of the public call “Torino, che cultura!”, funded by PN METRO PLUS E CITTÀ MEDIE SUD 2021-2027 – TO7.5.1.1.B – SUPPORT FOR THE URBAN ECONOMY IN THE CULTURE SECTOR.
