GEEK 2015: MEET MAKE PLAY
GEEK is a festival of games and play that launched in 2012 in Margate, Kent. Last weekend GEEK turned 3, so I went to see what all the hype was about. The main festival events were held in Margate’s Winter Gardens, with the theatre providing ample space for stalls, game stations, storytelling, and even a dedicated area for... View Article
GEEK is a festival of games and play that launched in 2012 in Margate, Kent. Last weekend GEEK turned 3, so I went to see what all the hype was about.
The main festival events were held in Margate’s Winter Gardens, with the theatre providing ample space for stalls, game stations, storytelling, and even a dedicated area for gamers wanting to participate in multiplayer games. At one table, people played with Mindflex, a toy straight out of the future that allows you, via an EEG headset, to steer a floating ball using your brain waves(!) There was something for everyone, kids and adults alike, and the overwhelming atmosphere was one of pure fun.
Dan Thompson, a GEEK volunteer, told me that a crucial part of the festival’s popularity is that it still has that under-the-radar feel; there are no big name gaming companies, no attempt to make the event highly polished, and so it has simply become an accessible festival for anyone and everyone who loves games of all kinds. And that’s the spirit GEEK captures perfectly.
GEEK Fringe events also ran across the weekend, offering a number of creative, interactive installations. Here are just a few of the highlights:
This was an innovative multi-medium installation that explored community, image and identity, appropriately located inside Margate’s Visitor Information Centre. Photographs and film footage of a much older Margate were combined with images of visitors to the installation, literally bringing generations together and reflecting upon the potential for regeneration in a once booming seaside resort.
Tucked away inside Margate’s LIMBO project space, this installation was ‘an unsteady mix of form and function’ that intentionally created confusion and disorientated visitors. Inspired by Margate’s old electricity substation, three artists from the South East - Zoe Fudge, Sharon Haward and Rachel Wilberforce - offered their individual responses to the town. The result was a synthesis of sculpture, projections and light based work, with each part intended to “enhance, highlight or disrupt” the space.
Blister Cinema was part of ‘an experiment in digital ecosystems’ by Genetic Moo, a collaboration between local artists Nicola Shauerman and Tim Pickup. As one of the more interactive art/game exhibits, visitors were encouraged to wander around and explore how their silhouettes affected the space. The idea is that you are inside an infected human blister; kinect sensors allow you to alter what happens, and you control whether the infection triumphs over the immune system or vice versa. Blister Cinema will return to Margate in June and Genetic Moo would like to film people playing, dancing and tumbling in the space. If you’d like to be involved, email [email protected].
GEEK will return to Margate in February 2016.
