Roleplay game workshop with Artist David Blandy to play Alien Pastoral: The Strain

Tuesday August 11th 2026 / Time: 6 - 7:30pm

Venue: Chelsea Physic Garden, London

Ticket includes entry to garden and all other activities between 5-9pm / £5-£6.75

Click ‘Book/Register Interest‘, select ‘Admission Tickets Summer Season’ and click the admission ticket you would like and ‘Pastoral Alien: The Strain’

Please arrive 5 minutes beforehand

As part of our late evening event on Tuesday August 11th join artist David Blandy to play his Serpentine commissioned roleplay game Alien Pastoral: The Strain. Be inspired by our setting at Chelsea Physic Garden where, in the game, the greenhouses and gardens transform into a botanical research station. 

Alien Pastoral: The Strain centres on a research station, run by an Authority, as you, 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 collaboratively design a research station complete with seedbeds, orchards and laboratories to experience how relationships change with their environments in this worldbuilding 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. Suitable for 16+

Alien Pastoral: The Strain is a participatory event which involves complex themes, narratives and storytelling

The session will take 90 minutes

This event is supported by funding from Arts Council England. The game was commissioned by Serpentine Gallery as part of the Infinite Ecologies Marathon.

Please note:

The Physic Garden Café will be open for drinks and light bites.

• Last entry is at 8.30pm and the Garden closes at 9pm.

• This event is free but you will need to purchase a ticket to the Garden for the evening. Click ‘Book/Register Interest‘, select ‘Admission Tickets Summer Season’ and click the admission ticket you would like and ‘Pastoral Alien: The Strain‘

• This workshop lasts 90 minutes, from 6pm-7.30pm

• This workshop takes place upstairs in our Gallery room. Unfortunately, this room is not wheelchair accessible but reached via a 22-step staircase with a handrail. To discuss accessibility please email enquiries@chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk

Find us at:

Chelsea Physic Garden
66 Royal Hospital Road
Chelsea, London SW3 4HS
Tel: 020 7352 5646
enquiries@chelseaphysicgarden.co.uk