HOMO LUDENS LUDENS

HOMO LUDENS LUDENS
Locating play in contemporary culture and society


Exhibition: 18 April - 22 September
Conference: 19 - 20 April, Admission: 20 EUR / 10 EUR
Venue: LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijón/Spain
http://www.laboralcentrodearte.org/

LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial presents HOMO LUDENS
LUDENS, an international exhibition and conference examining play as a
principal element of today' s world, and highlighting its necessity for
our contemporary societies. Following the exhibitions GAMEWORLD and
PLAYWARE, that reflected respectively on the different playful and
social sides of gaming creativity and interactive art, HOMO LUDENS
LUDENS now sets the setting that embraces these data and looks into the
notion of play in a wider spectrum, presenting how it has evolved in our
digital times.

Projects of a different character and orientation reflect play's various
expressions and roles: Play is being reformed and reversed; it embodies
social and political acts and issues; it becomes a tool for activism; it
mingles the virtual and the real; it revitalises other disciplines; play
can be misused and exploited; while stereotypes are challenged,
questions are raised and different understandings are offered.

Following the same direction, the international Conference HOMO LUDENS
LUDENS which is co-organized with the Planetary Collegium aims through
its two-day programme to situate the frame context of contemporary play,
to highlight its interdisciplinary character and to present the
multifaceted reality of the playful society we are living in. To achieve
this, the Conference forms a special setting for dialogue and
experimentation where it brings together international experts from the
field of game theory as well as artists and practitioners who embrace
elements and signs of play and playfulness in their work and research
activities.

So, what is play today and what about the player? The exhibition and
conference can be understood as an examination of play as a vital
element in our everyday life and as a speculation on the emergence of a
Homo Ludens Ludens - the contemporary playful man.


Exhibiting Artists:
John Paul Bichard, France Cadet, Derivart, Devart, Hannah Perner-Wilson &
Mika Satomi, Ge Jin, Vladan Joler, Radwan Kasmiya, John Klima, La
Fiambrera Obrera & Mar de Niebla, Danny Ledonne, Valeriano López,
Ludic Society, Marcin Ramocki & Justin Strawhand, Martin Pichlmair &
Fares Kayali, Brian Mackern, Larry Miller, MIT Lab - Drew Harry &
Dietmar Offenhuber & Orkan Telhan, Molleindustria, Julian Oliver, Orna
Portugaly & Daphna Talithman & Sharon Younger, Personal Cinema & the
Erasers, Rolando Sánchez, Alex Sanjurjo, Gordan Savicic, Axel Stockburger,
Silver & True, Román Torre, David Valentine/MediaShed (ft. Methods of Movement),
Volker Morawe & Tilman Reiff, William Wegman

Conference Speakers:
Roy Ascott, Laura Baigorri, Laura Beloff, Erich Berger, Matteo Bittanti,
José Luis de Vincente, Julian Dibbell, Daphne
Dragona, Wolfgang Fiel, Gonzalo Frasca, Luis Miguel Girão, Margarete
Jahrmann, McKenzie Wark, David Mcconville, Guto Nóbrega, Julian Oliver,
Paolo Pedercini, Martin Pichlmair, Anne Marie Schleiner, Mike Phillips,
Michael Punt, Nicolas Reeves, Natacha Roussel, Semi Ryu, Natasha
Vita-More, Monika Weiss

Conference Co-Organizers:
Planetary Collegium

Curatorial team:
Erich Berger, Chief Curator, LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial, Gijón
Laura Baigorri, Independent Curator, Barcelona
Daphne Dragona, New Media Arts Curator, Athens