Examples of previous projects by David Blandy that have informed the new approach for this application:
OUR PLACE, NO PLACE:
David Blandy ran pilot workshops with VEX, a spoken word poetry writing group in Ventnor, Isle of Wight
Participants worked together using world-building techniques and Twine coding to create new content for Our Place, No Place that was weaved into the final digital and physical publication.
The game was printed and distributed to participating venues, it will soon be made available as a digital document.
Our Place, No Place was a tabletop role-playing game by David Blandy, (in collaboration with Dr Jo Lindsey Walton, Arts, Climate & Technology, University of Sussex) that helps us to consider speculative worlding and emancipatory gaming. Commissioned by Brent Biennial 2025 : Bones, stones and calling the four elements, curated by Annie Jael Kwan.
Workshops were held across the UK in schools, youth clubs and universities to help co-create this new game. Participants gained new creative skills & experienced well-being improvements. Some venues have asked for return visits to further develop projects.
Developing writing & drawing skills
Problem solving
Game Design
DAWN AFTER NIGHT, SPRING AFTER WINTER
‘Dawn After Night, Spring After Winter’ was an inspiring art game trail made by artists David Blandy & Daniel Locke commissioned by Surrey Hills Arts, to make an evocative game publication of local mythologies and the natural world that will take players through two different inspiring nature trails.
The aim was to connect and deepen engagement with the landscape, and to listen to our communities, ensuring our landscapes are a place for everyone.
The trail is downloadable through QR codes on the trail, on the website and as a physical publication made available at local libraries and on site at Box Hill woods.
You can find out more about the project here
Multiple workshops were held in schools, community venues and in the nature sites to engage a diverse cohort with varying different needs to co-design the final artwork. Children from an urban school were taken to Box Hill woods for a Forest school creative workshop, it was the first time many of them had ever visited the countryside.
To launch the trails we held live events including artist guided walks, forest school activities and a British Sign Language tour which engaged a range of different communities.
A community exhibition was held at Phoenix Arts, Brighton showcasing participants artwork alongside the artists work
THE WORLD AFTER- An exhibition, game & publication at Focal Point Gallery, Southend-on Sea
The World After was a gallery installation and collaborative role play game project involving writing, poetry, game design and collaboration. Blandy worked alongside an Essex poet to craft the script and he wrote the musical score for the local orchestra to perform. The film’s voiceover was acted by a diverse cast of local people. The game was written and designed with participants from local gaming groups. Events included a guided walk, a live performance of the game, an artist talk and children’s workshops across the exhibition period.
Commissioned by Focal Point Gallery, (Southend on Sea) & New Geographies; a three-year partnership across arts organisations in the East of England to commission site-specific work that responds to a series of publically nominated locations across the region.
Blandy’s project took inspiration from the unique post-industrial setting of Canvey Wick, a former site of an oil refinery on Canvey Island, Essex, now reclaimed by nature over the past 40 years.
The role play game imagines Canvey Island as the setting for a narrative of renewal and rebirth, of collaboration towards a world of harmony in diversity, both in nature and with each other. It was produced collaboratively, with Blandy working closely with gaming communities in Essex to create this future world, devising creatures based on local wildlife and myth.
Press: Frieze , Art Agenda, Art Monthly, The Guardian , BBC News
Commons - A Film & Video Umbrella Commission
Commons is Blandy’s most recent commission that combines archive film from Screen Archive South East, 3D scans, and newly captured footage of ancient rocks and woodland - common land preserved for all. Drawing on the collections of objects and specimens at The Amelia Scott, Tunbridge Wells, and The Beaney, Canterbury, This expansive work reveals a series of stories told by multiple voices. Like the pilgrims in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales, non-human subjects and objects recount their experiences across years or millennia, deliberately decentring the human perspective. Inspired by the natural world and ideas of resistance, these characters embark on a pilgrimage through deep time, each speaking from their own subjectivity.
Commons was commissioned for The Open Road by Film and Video Umbrella and The Amelia Scott, Tunbridge Wells, as part of the Kent and Medway Museum Partnership National Portfolio Organisation. Supported using public funding by Arts Council England and Screen Archive South East.
Objects Speak is a new game by David Blandy commissioned by The Amelia Scott co-created by workshop participants for the exhibition. Investigate the building, discover secrets and build your own story from the objects you find. It is available on the gallery website as a digital PDF or as a physical zine.