It’s boggling my mind…it really is. The brilliance of the stuff that this year’s line-up have been making just boggles my mind. Closing the day will be a talk from designer/artists/maker Chris O’Shea. As well as writing Pixelsumo and co-creating This Happened (a conference/event shindig we just wish we could get tickets for everytime a new Happening is announced), Chris recently did this bit of majesty in Liverpool:
Unsuspecting pedestrians walking into the path of the Big Screen camera “will be tickled, stretched, flicked or removed entirely in real-time by a giant deity.” Makes me think of a gritty paving and rain-soaked northern England version of Black & White, with a bit of Benny Hill thrown in.
Chris is going to be talking at Playful about “creating installations full of charm, joy & wonder, including police lights, chickens, giant hands, air guitar, xray torches, spinning mirrors and music boxes.”
We’ve been fit to bursting with this little secret since early last week…but were sworn to silence until this morning, Thursday 22nd October 2009 year of our lordly conference.
We’re proud to add two new faces to this year’s line-up – Alfie Dennen and Paula Le Dieu. Their project Bus Tops has just been chosen as the winning entrant in the London arc of the Artists Taking The Lead fund (an Arts Council and London Olympics public art project). Basically, they’ve got the go-ahead to create a London-wide networked canvas of LED displays on the roofs of bus shelters that anyone can create art and games for.
Speaking to Alfie on the phone last week, he was almost inaudibly giddy, and told me about lots of frankly crazy and brilliant applications they have in mind, one of which is Borough Pong.
So, unless I’m mistaken, we’ve canned an Exclusive in this pair. Unless we’ve gone mad Playful ‘09 will be their first public speaking engagement since the annoucenent…apart from, probably, the news…the one show…this morning…but they don’t count.
Thanks to everyone who has e-mailed us about volunteering to help at Playful ‘09. We’ll be getting back to everyone by, we hope, tomorrow at the latest. We’ve got a list of fine folks, and we’ll be putting their names into a giant hypothetical hat over a cup of builder’s in our warm office, and picking out a few or more. We’ll be in touch.
In other news, we can’t quite contain ourselves with excitement now that we’ve decided what to do for the physical ‘programme’ at Playful ‘09. We’re chuffed to the rafters to be working with Newspaper Club, who will not only be sorting out the print and delivery, but have also come on board as a sponsor or, as we prefer to put it, Supporting Chums (check the sidebar for our other chums).
So this year, as well as getting a free lunch, as much tea as you can humanly drink (responsibly), you get a newspaper with pages and words and pictures and crosswords and everything. We can’t wait to get our fingers all inked up on the morning of Friday 30th October…already the though of cutting the wire reminds of paper-round days wearing long-johns at six in the morning.
Brill.
P.S. This week the folks that bring you Playful have been to see Up and Le Donk & Scor-Zay-Zee, and recommend that everyone should see both of ‘em. One of them made us cry with laughter, the other one just made us cry (three times).
This morning we’re tipping our hats in the direction of VW’s The Fun Theory project. If it’s not already obvious, we like things…normal boring things like making tea or walking through a door…we like it when these things become fun. Become something you can PLAY or play WITH. So a Monday morning hats off for this and these:
It’s getting pretty darn close now. So close that we’re getting down to all the little details…(see our last post regarding graphing the amount of tea needed). It’s these little details that make the day happen the way it’s supposed to happen. I mean, setting up a projector and making sure all the speakers are on time doesn’t sound like a lot, but speaking from experience it usually takes up THE ENTIRE DAY.
The thing is, there are many many more little details that need sorting out. For example, I would not want to be within a mile of Conway Hall if there wasn’t enough water for tea during the morning break. So we’re putting the word out for volunteers…
If you fancy helping us out on Friday 30th October, manning registrations and other important jobs, then get in touch. You get a free pass to the whole day in return, and you’ll get plenty of time to see some of the amazing line-up.
We’ve got a bit of a thing for graphs. Nothing weird…we don’t think. Anyhow, we’re chuffed to the rafters to have graphic designer and graph wrangler Nicholas ‘Feltron‘ Felton flying in from NYC to join us at Playful ‘09.
Today we started graphing things to do with Playful ‘09 using Nicholas’ site Daytum. In the image about you can see represented some of the most important things for the day – Balloons, Tea, Speakers, and Attendees. We’ll be adding more as we think of them in the coming weeks…
At the end of last week we had a competition – first to guess who the smiling bearded lower-half of a face in the Eat Your Games logo belonged to would win one of the ever-dwindling supply of tickets to Playful ‘09. Well, we can now announce that the face belongs to Simon Oliver, from Hand Circus (makers of the fine Rolando games). Here he is in full-face glory:
Beautiful. And congratulations to Henry Cooke, who goes home tonight with a free ticket to Playful ‘09, where he’ll be able to see Simon Oliver talking about developing the Rolando games, and much more besides. Today our speakers page got a MASSIVE overhaul and now includes the beaming faces of Leila Johnston, Roo Reynolds, Alice Taylor, Kate Lindemann, Duncan Gough, Russell Davies, James Bridle and more, with more to come. Crikey.
If you haven’t already done so, book your ticket now as Playful ‘09 is filling up (and our ads are about to go up on The Guardian) – get yrself to http://playful09.eventbrite.com. Forthwith!
We’re being supported by a bunch of right incredible folks this year, I’ll tell yer. Each one is doing their own little bit to help make Playful ‘09 bigger, better, and healthier than last year. On the subject of health, let’s talk lunch…
At Playful ‘09 we’ll be doing something like last year – good wholesome cobs in a good wholesome bag courtesy of the tremendous Wooley’s. However, whereas last year it was a mad grab n’ dash for the biggest flapjack, this year when you arrive you’ll get a Playful Lunch Pass courtesy of our newest chums at Playgroup. This little beauty will win you a grand Wooley’s luncheon at the tuc-shop. Woo!
Here’s a little info on the folks who’ll be sponsoring this year’s grub:
Playgroup – Creativity through Play
Play helps change perspectives, remove barriers and allows new ways of thinking.
We use play to understand, develop ideas and to generate ingenious creative solutions.
Our expertise includes brand and business innovation strategy, user experience, social media, games, and brand experiences.
We work with clients including; Mercedes-Benz, Unilever, ITV, WWF, BT, Sony and the Norwegian Design Council.
And our awards shelf is brimming:
• FWA Site of the Day – Robin Hood Showdown
• FWA Site of the Day – ITV Demons: The Game
• Webby Peoples Voice: GI Jonny – Integrated campaign to drive HIV Awareness for BBC
• DBA Design Effectiveness Award for BT Business: Internal Communications Category
• 3 Golden Horizon Awards for ITV Demons: The Game
We’ve been working a lot on Playful ‘09 of late, and got a bit over-excited waiting for it to happen, so we’ve elbowed our way in to London Digital Week and created a mini-event (in time and scale of course, never scope) called EAT YOUR GAMES…
Of course, when we say “elbowed our way in” we mean “been invited to”. We’re playful but we’re not bullies. Anyway, the event is on Friday 25th September, will last ONE HOUR, is FREE (put your purse away love) and it’s at Shoreditch Town Hall in London. It starts at 17:00 and finishes at 18:00, and in between will be a talk about digital distribution and the rise of indie development (amongst other things) from Beatnik Games, Hello Games, and Kerb Games.
If you’re a game developer, gamer, digital agency, distributor, or someone who just likes going to things because it’s better than getting rained on, go here to reserve a seat. There’s stuff happening on either side of Eat Your Games as well, so check the London Digital Week Events Timetable to see if there’s anything that tickles your fancy.
We’re running a little competition as well. There’s a free ticket to Playful ‘09 (30th October 2009) for the person who can identify whose beaming bearded smile we’ve used in the Eat Your Games banner featured in this blog post. E-mail your answer to info@thisisplayful.com. First one to get it wins.
