Playopolis

In this episode of Playopolis we hear a conversation between Quentin Stevens, Rachel Iampolski, Troy Innocent and Kiri Delly recorded at twosixty. about an experimental, playful parklet. Parklets have rapidly become part of urban landscapes everywhere during the pandemic. While rapid changes to planning policy that enable more space for people in our cities are a positive development, most parklets are not public spaces in which everyone is welcome. Can parklets be reclaimed as a form of tactical urbanism? How do we make parklets playful again?

In this episode of Playopolis we hear from urban designer Quentin Stevens about his concept of the ludic city. He has been studying urban play in Melbourne before and during the pandemic, and is interested in the ways in which the city is being reshaped and reimagined. In the second half of the program, we travel back to Japan with research and artist Hugh Davies, to continue exploring the pre-history of the hit augmented reality game Pokémon Go. He takes us back to the practice of shrine pilgrimage in feudal Japan, connecting it with the super popular ‘stamp rallies’ that happen across the national rail network.

In this episode, we talk to game designer, curator and writer Holly Gramazio about situating invitations to play in public space in her own work and as director of Now Play This. The conversation continues as she reflects on her experience as co-author on Bernie De Koven's last book, The Infinite Playground: A Player’s Guide to Imagination, that traverses his incredible legacy of fun theory and play design. And in the second half of the program, we’ll travel to Japan with researcher and artist Dr Hugh Davies, where we’ll explore the first in a two part story on the pre-history of the hit augmented reality game Pokemon Go.

In this episode we are returning to a conversation held during Melbourne Design Week in March 2020 about the multiplicity of place arising from urban play. It begins with how First Peoples connection to place creates ways of being that enable reimagination, reconnection and reconfiguration of the world. Boon Wurrung elder, N’arweet Carolyn Briggs speaks with RMIT academic Dr Olivia Guntarik, ACMI’s Seb Chan and Dr Troy Innocent about her knowledge and experience of place, navigating two knowledge systems in her daily life in Melbourne - the city that is now and the patterns that lie beneath that city. In the second part of this episode, we talk to Lee Shang Lun about play as a methodology for anti-disciplinary art - returning to the role of The Situationists in reshaping cities and urban life.

In this episode of Playopolis, we’ll hear a conversation with McKenzie Wark as she resituates the Situationist International, talks about living in New York in 2020, and speculates on how seeds for other ways of life may rise from modern ruin. McKenzie Wark is known for her writings on media theory, critical theory, new media, and the Situationist International. Her recent books include Capital is Dead and Reverse Cowgirl. Following that is the story of the rise and fall of Jafflechutes. In 2014, on the windiest Autumn day in twenty years, Jafflechutes launched itself into the world... and promptly got stuck in a tree. We talk to the co-founders of this world first 'float-down pop up' eatery about what works, and what really doesn't, in the world of parachutable food.