Playing In Public

The Hide&Seek Weekender Conference

Hide&Seek brings you a conference day intended to illuminate the latest and best thinking around the subject of public play. You can buy tickets for the conference right now.

Games are entering the cultural mainstream and becoming part of our civic life, creating a set of challenges and opportunities for professionals tasked with managing public spaces. Through a series of talks from leading thinkers and practitioners, showcases from artists, producers and technology companies, and tailored networking sessions, the Playing in Public Conference creates an environment where new ideas for the future of play in public space can flourish.

Tickets are available from the Southbank Centre website, and are £60/£30 concession (including students, unemployed and low-income artists).

• The Who and How of Collaboration. Creating games and playful experiences for public spaces begins from innovative collaborations: between artists, game designers, architects, organisations, curators, funders and space holders. The day will look at the issue of collaboration from all these perspectives, illuminating the practical and creative steps necessary to foster great projects.
• The Past and Future of Public Play. Playing in public is arguably our oldest cultural activity, yet games are generally thought of has a technological, industrial cultural form. How can we link heritage with innovation?

• 9:00am-9:30am

  Coffee and Registration
• 9:30am-10:00am

  Keynote – the past and future of public play

  Pat Kane

  Pat Kane kicks off the conference with a survey of the intellectual, social & political context for public play, a glance at our Olympian present, and a brief glimpse of the future of civic spaces with play built in.
• 10:00am-10:15am

  Artist Showcase #1 – 815 Agency / Joshua DeBonis & Nikita Mikros

  815 Agency, Joshua DeBonis, Nikita Mikros

  Artists from the Hide&Seek Weekender deliver flash presentations of their work.
• 10:15am-10:45am

  Technology for public spaces – an insider’s guide

  Clare Reddington

  Clare Reddington brings her experience as director of the Pervasive Media Studio to bear on a frank and illuminating guide to the do's and don'ts of commissioning and developing technology for public spaces.
• 10:45am-11:00am

  Olympics / Games / Design #1

  Bennett Foddy, Ricky Haggett

  Interesting game designers deliver short provocations on what's important to them about the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
• 11:00am-11:15am

  Artist Showcase #2 – Laura Kriefman / Chloe Vareldi & Pollie Barden

  Laura Kriefman, Guerilla Dance Project, Pollie Barden, Chloe Varelidi

  Artists from the Hide&Seek Weekender deliver flash presentations of their work.
• 11:15am-12:00pm

  Regeneration games – how can public play contribute to community life?

  Hannah Nicklin, Kate Kneale, Shan Maclennan, John Newbigin

  A new understanding of the role of playing together in public spaces is stimulating a range of projects and developments that seek to connect game culture with community life. The panel will share their perspectives on public play from the perspectives of design, academia, public policy and cultural curation. Can public play have a lasting beneficial impact on communities? If so, of what kind?
• 12:00pm-12:30pm

  Faciliated Networking Session

  Hide&Seek-designed networking intended to put you together with interesting others.
• 12:30pm-1:30pm

  Lunch

  Lunch will be provided for delegates.
• 1:30pm-2:00pm

  The strange things people play

  Kars Alfrink

  In this talk, Kars Alfrink (Hubbub, NL) contemplates the future shape of public play: new social issues, new hybrid spaces and new nonhuman playmates. With interestingness, not accuracy as his yardstick.
• 2:00pm-2:45pm

  Funding public play – investors in conversation

  Dermot McPartland, Shonagh Manson, Charles Beckett, Mark Earls

  It's clear that public play events can create value for investors. Primarily, that value relationship is happening at the level of the cultural organisation commissioning the artist - to create an event or installation that meets its goals. What other models of investment and collaboration might be out there? What support structures might be needed to support games and public play? And what kinds of things do brands, trusts and public bodies need to ensure in order to collaborate?
• 2:45pm-3:00pm

  Artist Showcase #3 – Rosie Fairchild / Jason Anthony

  Rosie Fairchild, Jason Anthony

  Artists from the Hide&Seek Weekender deliver flash presentations of their work.
• 3:00pm-3:15pm

  Olympics / Games / Design #2

  Leanne Bayley, Kerry Turner

  Interesting game designers deliver short provocations on what's important to them about the Olympic and Paralympic Games.
• 3:15pm-3:45pm

  Coffee break
• 3:45pm-4:30pm

  Curating Public Play in Cultural Spaces

  Heather Kelley, Jérôme Delormas

  Curator Heather Kelley and Artistic Director Jerome Delormas discuss the development of Joue le Jeu / Play Along and offer insights into a future best practice of curating games into cultural spaces.
• 4:30pm-4:45pm

  Artist Showcase #4 – George Buckenham / Jaime Woo

  George Buckenham, Jaime Woo

  Artists from the Hide&Seek Weekender deliver flash presentations of their work.