Venue: The Magazine Serpentine North Gallery
27 September 2024, 2pm
Free Live Event
Join us for the first event of this weekend series exploring worlding and life cycles through the lens of ecology. Part of the Infinite Ecologies Marathon.
You can apply to attend by registering your interest here by Friday, 20 September at noon. Successful applicants will be notified by Tuesday, 24 September.
Experience how relationships and environments change in this open worlding game experience.
Curated by Lucia Pietroiusti, Head of Ecologies, and Daisy Gould, Assistant Curator, Live Programmes. Produced by Isobel Peyton-Jones, Producer.
Participants will experience and discuss the worlding potential of gaming while playing David Blandy’s new tabletop role-playing game, Alien Pastoral: The Strain.
Alien Pastoral: The Strain centres on a biological research station, run by an Authority, as the scientists try to engineer a new strain to solve an existential problem. An adaptation of Blandy’s previous work Gathering Storm, this game explores the strange and often blurred spaces between agriculture, technology and capitalism. Players will collaboratively design a research station complete with seedbeds, orchards and laboratories to experience how relationships change with their environments in this open worlding game experience.
You do not need any prior role-playing game experience to participate. The workshop is followed by a feedback session with the artist.
Alien Pastoral: The Strain is a participatory event which involves complex themes, narratives and storytelling; including material around body horror, isolation, loss of autonomy and trauma.
The Infinite Ecologies Marathon is a long durational project that looks at the world-building potential of culture in the face of ecological destruction. Committing to working towards planetary thriving, this interdisciplinary series centres artist-led reimaginings for environmental action.
Ecologies is Serpentine’s new interdisciplinary department, focusing on developing a holistic, flexible and adaptive approach to embedding environmental purpose throughout Serpentine’s programmes, infrastructure and networks. Our mission is to place culture at the heart of environmental efforts, demonstrating how environmental commitment can guide the cultural sector. Ecologies was born from the learnings of the General Ecology project and Back to Earth.
BSL interpretation is available upon request. Please get in touch at information@serpentinegalleries.org if you would like to request this.
The Infinite Ecologies Marathon is curated by Hans Ulrich Obrist, Artistic Director, Lucia Pietroiusti, Head of Ecologies, Kostas Stasinopoulos, Curator, Live Programmes, and Daisy Gould, Assistant Curator, Live Programmes
Image: Alien Pastoral: The Strain, Card version, 2024
