Hiding & Seeking
Hot damn. I wish I could go to this…but I’m on holiday, and everyone else is busy. We got this e-mail from Alex Fleetwood last week, so we’ll pass the news on in case you hadn’t heard about it:
“It gives me great pleasure to invite you to the 3rd Hide&Seek Weekender, which is going to be happening at the Clore Ballroom, Southbank Centre, July 31 – August 2.
Personal highlights include Moveyhouse, a ‘recreation’ of a 1969 Claes Oldenburg happening by Andy Field, The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen, a game of competitive and extravagant boasting by James Wallis, and Scoop! an experience which puts you in the shoes of a struggling cable news crew with a licence to improvise. Scoop! is the result of the Playmakers project, a process devised with NESTA & film-maker Ivo Gormley to create a new game for this year’s Weekender.
The full programme is online at HideandSeekFest.co.uk. A huge congrats to Sandpit programmer Holly Gramazio for pulling it all together.
This year’s Weekender is populated entirely with work developed or playtested in the Sandpit, our thriving network of artists, makers & designers who come together every month at cultural venues around London. About fifty bits of work were developed, playtested and refined at the Sandpit over the last year. The conversation has started to take place online as well – at ludocity.org. It’s a unique environment; one which fosters rapid development of new ideas, and encourages everyone – no matter what their background – to get creative. Many of my favourite games of the last year have been devised by people who attended Sandpits as players and were inspired to create their own.
With the support of Arts Council England, we’re then taking a ‘best-of’ programme on tour around the UK. Audiences from Edinburgh, Cardiff, Stratford, Brighton, Bristol, Liverpool, Southend, Nottingham, Sheffield & Newcastle will be introduced to the Sandpit experience; and we’re already building relationships with local artists and extending our network.
So I hope you’ll come down to the Southbank Centre at some point over the weekend, to take part in some of the social games and playful experiences that the community have devised. There’s no Hide&Speak seminar day or VIP event this year – we’ve focused all of our resources on the community – so just come down, soak up the atmosphere and say hi!”