The Presence Project

The world premiere of Blast Theory's Day of The Figurines opens on Thursday 28th September 2006.

The Board (photo: Blast Theory)

Gabriella Giannachi has been documenting the development of the work on the Collaboratory at http://presence.stanford.edu:3455/Collaboratory/627

In Berlin, Gabriella will extend this work by tracking her experience of the game at http://presence.stanford.edu:3455/Collaboratory/758 .

This documentation will continue to evolve over the following 24 days of play.

The Locarno (photo: Blast Theory)

Day Of The Figurines is the world's first MUD (Multi User Domain) for mobile phones. Blast Theory describe it as 'a mass participation artwork using mobile phones that is part board game and part secret society'. They write:

Set in a fictional English town that is littered, dark and underpinned with steady decay, the game unfolds over 24 days, each day representing an hour in the life of the town. Up to 1000 players place their plastic figurines onto the board. They are moved by hand in a meticulous performance throughout the duration of the exhibition

Players participate by sending text messages. They must help other players as they receive updates from the town, missions and dilemmas. They can also chat to players who are near them in the town using text messages as events unfold in the town: a gig by Scandinavian death metallists, an invasion by a Middle Eastern army, a summer fete.

Day Of The Figurines will be running from Thursday 28th September to 21st
October 2006 from 4 to 8pm at HEBBEL AM UFER HAU 2: Hallesches Ufer 32 / 10963 Berlin.

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Blast Theory are presenting a 3 day public test of Day of the Figurines at the Sonar International Festival of Advance Music and Multimedia – Barcelona, Spain, on the 15th,16th,17th June 2006.

Day Of The Figurines, 2005. Copyright Blast Theory. Photo: Nicola Dove.

Gabriella (Giannachi) has just returned from visiting a 3 day preparatory workshop with Matt Adams, Ju Row Farr and Nick Tandavanitj of Blast Theory, Steve Benford and team members from the Mixed Reality Lab, Nottingham University, Irma Lindt of the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology, and Alain Becam of the Interactive Institute, Stockholm.

Day Of The Figurines, 2005. Copyright Blast Theory. Photo: Nicola Dove.

Day Of The Figurines has been developed as part of the European research project IPerG (Integrated Project on Pervasive Gaming) in collaboration with the Mixed Reality Lab at University of Nottingham, Sony Net Services, University of Gotland, Interactive Institute and the Fraunhofer Institute.
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We will be following and documenting the evolution of Day of the Figurines as part of the Presence Project over the next 18 months.

Our documentation of these processes will soon be emerging at: http://presence.stanford.edu:3455/Collaboratory/627

Blast Theory write that:

Day of the Figurines is set in a fictional town that is littered, dark and underpinned with steady decay. The game unfolds over a total of 24 days, each day representing an hour in the life of the town that shifts from the mundane to the cataclysmic; the local vicar opens a summer fete, Scandinavian metallists play a gig at the Locarno that goes horribly wrong and a gunship of Middle Eastern troops appears on the High Street. How players respond to these events and to each other creates and sustains a community during the course of a single day in the town. From the Gasometer to Product Barn, the Canal to the Rat Research Institute, up to 1,000 players roam the streets, defining themselves through their interactions. The centrepiece of the game is a 3.5 x 5 meter model town – at the Centre de Cultura Comtemporània de Barcelona - created using pop up metal buildings, overlaid with computer graphics. Each of the 1,000 players is represented by a small plastic figurine which is moved by hand every hour for the duration of the game.

The full day 24 day version of Day Of The Figurines will be launched in Berlin in September, which we will be following closely.

At Sonar by Day - at the Centre de Cultura Comtemporània de Barcelona C/
Montalegre, 5 08001 Barcelona, on 15,16,17th June 12.00 – 22.00

For more details -

www.dayofthefigurines.co.uk

www.blasttheory.co.uk

www.sonar.es

www.pervasive-gaming.org

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