south london monopoly : a game building and play workshop
This feels like long overdue homework but here's some documentation from the weekender at Tate Modern curated and facilitated by yours truly.
The workshop revolved around the idea of creating an alternative version to the much-loved board game, Monopoly. Dealing with ideas of memory and identity in the city, I invited participants to nominate places they would like to see on the board game. This proved most fruitful as people with shorter attention spans could participate comfortably. A surprising number of participants added visual aids alongside their nominations.
In addition to this, we reworked the character pieces that are moved around the board using clay, and repurposed material. Keeping in mind the sensory needs of participants, I introduced materials of varied textures and malleabilities. Participants drew out places and objects that resonated with them, including the Lewisham Clock Tower and Telegraph Hill.
For the chance and community chest decks, we discussed accidents and happenstances, and where community and the system come into play as a consequence. We talked about people's experiences with the NHS, and the role that community plays in supporting them, all through some comical anecdotes about chipped teeth. The group decided this deck worked better as a work-in-progress piece and kept adding to it through the weekend.
One of the participants, when introduced to this section, immediately, and quite enthusiastically might I add, penned down "Pickpocketing", which, if you've heard anything about London will instantaneously extend to draw up images of bicycle theft and cyclist phone thieves. The horrors of having your wallet robbed include paying for a new BRP and going through bureaucracy, inevitably needing you to skip two turns. My personal favourite was a "Get into a fight" card requiring two players to rock-paper-scissors their way out of a fine.
We reworked the rules from the original game to reconsider how our understanding of winning has changed. The original game relied on the logic that moving into Central London and owning property in Mayfair was the most surefire way to win; players often play against each other with the aim being to empty everyone else's pockets fastest. In our version, we questioned what logics implied about power, class, and our motivations. Our new (and improved) board constituted of pairs of properties wherein one was private and one public; the owner of the public property forfeiting the right to rent but being exempt from paying rent at its private counterpart.