The Sustainable Forest (Banff) (BNMI, 27 Aug 2008)
A LAN party is a temporary gathering of people and networked computers for the purpose of optimizing the play of multiplayer digital games. What if that game is an artwork?
The Sustainable Forest will be a small scale “LAN party” using Tale of Tales' (Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn) multiplayer online game The Endless Forest. The work itself is an atmospheric, self-directed game where you communicate non-verbally as a deer in a whimsical, multiplayer forest environment. Drawing on both the “endless forest” outside, and an atmospheric, surreal space inside, this “soiree” will strive to optimize the feeling of co-present, self-directed play. It is an experiment in sustaining an art experience by crafting a social gaming context conducive to mood, community, play, engagement, and reflection.