Subotron arcademy: A European Ludic Sphere?

Veranstaltungsreihe zur Theorie von digitalen Spielen 2012

Anders Sundnes Løvlie
Associate professor at Gjøvik University College, Oslo

The idea of a global public sphere is as important as it is elusive. This idea envisions that public debate and cultural exchanges could take place independent of geographical, linguistic and cultural
borders.

Ubiquitous games – that is, mobile games that can be played anywhere and anytime, by (nearly) anyone – carry with them the potential for an extension of public space, by virtue of the distributed character of networked communication. At the same time, they also allow for an expansion of the space of play, from virtual space into physical, everyday spaces. In this way, ubiquitous games can connect the everyday spaces and lifeworlds of people in different countries, and encourage playful interaction among people from different locations, cultures and languages.

In this talk, Anders Løvlie presents several game experiments which in different ways expand our notions of public space. One of them is “Random Friends”, a theatre game event set simultaneously in the cities of Trondheim, Norway and Belgrade, Serbia. In this game, players from these two very different cities formed teams and ventured out together into the streets to explore their fellow citizen’s conflicted attitudes towards EU politics. Løvlie´s ongoing project, “Ludotopia”, aims to expand on these ideas and create ludic platforms that let people in different European cities play together in their respective public spaces.