Game of War Weekend at HTTP Gallery

26-27 September 2009
12-5pm

The Situationist Raoul Vaneigem famously wrote: "There are no more artists since we've all become artists. Our next work of art is the construction of a full-blooded life." The Revolution of Everyday Life.

In this tradition, Class Wargames presents two days of making and playing Guy Debord's The Game of War. Debord, leader of the Situationist International, developed the game while in exile after the May '68 Revolution, and came to regard it as his most important project. For Debord, The Game of War wasn’t just a game - come and learn how to fight and win against the oppressors of the spectacular society! Join the Class Wargames crew Richard Barbrook, Fabian Tompsett, Ilze Black and others in redefining political and contextual territories.

Come along on Saturday to learn the intricacies of the game by making your own board from recycled materials. Then come back on Sunday to play the game and participate in a discussion between political theorist and author Dr. Richard Barbrook of Class Wargames and author and programmer Alex Galloway, developer of Kriegspiel, a digital version of the Game of War, who will participate online from New York. The discussion will be chaired by Marc Garrett, co-director of Furtherfield.org and will feature in 'Artists RE:thinking Games', due to be published in September 2009, compiled and edited by Furtherfield.org in collaboration with FACT.

For more information about the event please visit HTTP Gallery website http://www.http.uk.net/events/Game_of_War/
To take part in the game please RSVP to ale(AT)furtherfield(DOT)org

More info:

The Game of War is a Clausewitz simulator: a Napoleonic-era military strategy game where armies must maintain their communications structure to survive - and where victory is achieved by smashing your opponent’s supply network rather than by taking their pieces. For Debord, The Game of War wasn’t just a game - it was a guide to how people should live their lives within Fordist society. Come learn how to fight and win against the oppressors of spectacular society!

Class Wargames are playing Guy Debord’s The Game of War in public using a replica of his original 1977 design for the board game; it is committed to subverting the ideological mechanisms which are used to keep us in line. The Class Wargames players are Dr. Richard Barbrook, University of Westminster; Ilze Black, Waterman’s Art Gallery; Lucy Blake, Software Developer; Mark Copplestone, Copplestone Castings; Rod Dickinson, Artist; Fabian Tompsett, Class War 1985; and Alex Veness, University of the Arts. http://www.classwargames.net/

Dr. Richard Barbrook is a senior lecturer in the School of Social Sciences, Humanities and Languages at the University of Westminster. In 2007 he published his study of the political and ideological role of the prophecies of artificial intelligence and the information society: Imaginary Futures. Richard is a trustee of Cybersalon and a founding member of Class Wargames. He is currently carrying out research into the politics of ludic subversion.
More info: http://www.imaginaryfutures.net and www.theclassofthenew.net.

Alexander R. Galloway is an author and programmer. He is Associate Professor or Media, Art and Communication at New York University; author of Protocol: How Control Exists After Decentralization (MIT, 2004), Gaming: Essays on Algorithmic Culture (Minnesota, 2006), and a new book coauthored with Eugene Thacker called The Exploit: A Theory of Networks (Minnesota, 2007), a founding member of the software collective RSG and creator of the Carnivore and Kriegspiel projects.
More info: http://cultureandcommunication.org/galloway/

Ilze Black is an artist and curator of media arts:http://www.hivenetworks.net & http://www.take2030.net

Fabian Tompsett, London Psychogeographical Association and author:http://www.unpopular.demon.co.uk/lpa/organisations/lpa.html

HTTP Gallery is Furtherfield.org’s dedicated space for exhibiting networked media art, based in Haringey, North London. Furtherfield.org provides platforms for creating, viewing, discussing and learning about experimental practices in art and technology. Furtherfield.org believes that through creative and critical engagement with practices in art and technology, people are inspired and enabled to become active co-creators of their cultures and societies; as participants rather than recipients. Furtherfield.org is supported by Arts Council England.