Play PLAYING UP
PLAYING UP is artwork exploring the potential of Live Art to bridge generations in the form of a game played by adults and kids together.
“In a time of political apathy, particularly among young people squeezed through the sausage machine of education with so much emphasis on league tables and so little on creativity, and when both schools and parents are increasingly risk adverse, PLAYING UP offers the tools to take risks, wrest back agency and question power relationships. All while having fun and making art.”
Lyn Gardner, The Guardian, April 2016
Read the full article
Photography Seraphina Neville © Tate, 2016
Play PLAYING UP with family and friends, with neighbours, at school, or for professional research:
Anyone can buy PLAYING UP for only £10 and play it on evenings, weekends and holidays.
PLAYING UP is also recommended for schools as a playful, hands-on introduction to Live Art. In fact, PLAYING UP Clubs are already beginning to spread.
To experience Live Art from a children’s point of view allows for a fresh and direct approach to the area of practice in general. PLAYING UP can therefore also be read as an introduction to Live Art suitable for all ages, and used as a tool for study and experimentation in many different contexts of research and education.
Photography Seraphina Neville © Tate, 2016
Hosting a PLAYING UP Play-In:
Public Play-ins of PLAYING UP can be hosted by festivals, museums, galleries and independent organisations as stand-alone events or as part of wider programmes of activities.
A three day Play-in at Tate Modern, London (April 2016), a one day Play-in at Wellcome Collection (February 2020), a two day Play-in at Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol for the IBT17 Festival (February 2017), a one-day Play-in at Hijack Children’s Festival, Brighton (October 2016) and a one night Play-in at the Herbert Museum, Coventry (May 2017) show a range of possibilities from large to small scale events.
The Live Art Development Agency (LADA) and the Theatre of Research can collaborate with you on hosting and promoting a Play-in as part of your own programmes, and have a team of trained PLAYING UP Ambassadors to help run events.
Alternatively you can organise and host your own independent Play-in. These must be approved in advance by LADA and the Theatre of Research and must follow guidelines which can be provided by LADA, along with advice on how best to host and run a Play-in.
Please contact LADA on info@thisisliveart.co.uk for Guidelines on hosting a Play-in or to discuss a collaboration.
Playing Up Play-In, Credit Daniel Pitt, Cambridge Junction
Translations
PLAYING UP is in English. A German edition of the game is launched in September 2017.
If you interested in translations of PLAYING UP either to facilitate a Play-In in another language, or to publish an edition in another language, please contact LADA on info@thisisliveart.co.uk
PLAYING UP is produced and published by the Live Art Development Agency (UK), FUNDUS THEATER / Theatre of Research (Germany), Tate Early Years and Family Programme (UK), Best Biennial (Sweden) and Live Art UK, with the support of the Goethe-Institut London and the Collaborative Arts Partnership Programme (CAPP).