As one of the founders of Games For Change, I was delighted when they asked me to help them celebrate the 15th anniversary this summer with a pop-up museum.
At previous conferences like Museums and the Web and the Games, Learning and Society conference, I’ve run a session that invites attendees to engage in a little role play, stepping into the role of exhibit and tour designers to create a mini-pop-up museum, ABOUT the conference, to run AT the conference.
I’ve lead it three times now and each one has been more remarkable than the last. It is an opportunity to think about the power of physical objects to contain and communicate meaning, about the conventions we use to invite engagement and understanding, and how game-play can play a crucial role in that process.
Before each conference the organizers invite past participants to contribute physical objects related to the event. It could be from the conference – like official swag, name badges, and program guides – or from their time at the event – like restaurant receipts, business cards, and such. All of the items are then accessioned through a process that encodes each object with its provenance. If you have an object from the first 14 years of Games For Change, please start the process here.
The fun then begins at the associated session at the conference. [Spoiler alert!] As each attendee enters the room they are given a card with their role on it. Each role names other roles they need to interact with, and in what way, as well as their personal mission they aim to achieve. As the room fills up the energy level starts to build – the clock is ticking and collections need to be processed, exhibits needs to be constructed, copy needs to be written, tours need to be designed, and games need to be developed.
At the designated moment, Museum development ends, roles switch, and we celebrate the opening of the Museum. After touring our new creation, we then explore the issues raised: about how museums and objects construct meaning in our lives, about the conventions used to encourage social exchange with history and each other, about how game mechanics can break down obstacles to engagement.
And then, when it all seems over, it begins: the museum is taken out of the room and into a public space within the conference, to be experienced by all attendees over the course of the event.
So if you are coming to this summer’s Games For Change, I hope you’ll come join us – whether to design the pop-up or just as a visitor. In either case, if you have an object to donate, please take the time now to start the process here.
