For five years Now Play This has been a home for innovative and experimental games from all over the world. Through our collaboration with London Games Festival and Somerset House we have had the distinct pleasure of championing interesting game design, and showing the world what games can do. We’ve exhibited over 350 makers, more than 20,000 visitors passed through our doors. It has been a space where people have made their first ever games, and creators from across the globe have been able to meet and collaborate.
Our first big news of the year is that we are thrilled to announce that joining us as Guest Director for 2020 is Marie Foulston. A celebrated curator of games, Foulston is co-founder of experimental games collective Wild Rumpus, was lead curator of the headline V&A exhibition Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt, and has worked alongside a host of international institutions include the Smithsonian, GDC, the AGO and MoPOP.
And now a quick word from her,
“It’s been fantastic to watch Now Play This grow over the past five years and establish itself as an eclectic, experimental and essential landmark of the UK games scene. The festival and the team who bring it to life each year are such an inspiration and it’s a privilege and a real joy to be joining them for the 2020 edition.
The theme of the festival this year is “Breaking Point” one which embraces disruptions of the status quo and the creative potential of change and transformation. This is a theme that will run not just through the works on show, but through the festival as a whole as it finds itself in a moment of transition. Whilst the team and I promise not to totally break the festival this year, we will be disrupting it just a little bit. Over the coming months we are super excited to share with you our plans for the festival and all the superb and subversive works we’re busy lining up.”
Beyond this year’s festival, in 2020 we are also looking ahead and considering the longer term evolution of the festival’s form and ways to ensure a sustainable future. During London Games Week we’ll be hosting conversations with our audience and partners about where our resources and energy are most needed. We look forward to being part of our creative communities for a long time to come.
Photography: Tom Jamieson
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