06/08/09 Rootatroupe; Games and Protest

Saturday 1st August saw Rootatroupe visiting the wonderful Treehouse Gallery in Richmond Park. A true reclamation of public space, and positive utilization of the urban green relief enables diverse audiences to approach, investigate and visit the contents of the space. The presence of the well designed and well executed structures served many important purposes, but for me the most important thing they did was to highlight how inorganic our urban centres are, and how architecturally oppressive our capital is.

I was there for two purposes. One was to watch my dear friend Clemmie James speak about her time in Tuvalu, exploring the effects of climate change on an island that has a life expectancy of around 20 years. Where are people going to go, how will they leave the graves of their ancestors, and how will they protect their unique island culture; and of course, do we care enough? Clemmie is looking to continue her project and is planning to join up Tuvaluans with Europeans through the medium of written letter. If you would like to be part of this project please email littleglassclementine@yahoo.co.uk.

The second was to give a talk exploring the application of social game design to diffuse police and state brutality occurring at various protests. It is from first hand observation that I have seen unnecessary brutality inflicted upon non confrontational protesters, which is not a criminal activity but a human right. Using democratic games and multi media organization methods, advanced rules sets and digital distribution, twitter and other social networking devices it may well be possible to inform players in advance and arrive at the protest armed with game play, rules and physically demanding (spatially and visually) activities. The question I was investigating through the talk was the history of game play in protest, and it’s use and role in contemporary protest. It seems there is a role for social game playing to serve a much bigger role than simply the bearer of fun and experimental methods of social interaction.

There will be further talks taking place at the Treehouse Gallery early in September.