SATURDAY, AUGUST 29
ST. PAUL, MN
NOON BLACK DOG CAFE BE THERE!
308 Prince Street (corner of 4th and Broadway)
Re:Activism is a game. And a scavenger hunt. And a history lesson. And an expression of solidarity across struggles. And street theater. And disruption.
Participants visit sites of local struggle and resistance, performing challenges at each to earn points. These could be historical re-enactments relevant to the site, interviews with passersby, or staged protests, among other possibilities.
The point is to draw parallels between struggles, to unearth moments of local radical history, and to theatrically subvert business-as-usual.
Oh, and to run around in the street.
But we still need a lot of help ... please get in touch!
WHEN: Saturday, August 29, 2009, 12:00 - 4:00pm
WHAT: Re:Activism is a big-urban-game that revisits locations of historic and present day protests to teach game participants and developers about activist events and related social causes. In order to progress through the game, the game-players learn about and raise awareness of protest events and movements by creating present day interventions and public interactions. Teams of game-players race to different challenge sites to complete challenges and use activist tactics to increase their score. Each challenge site is themed around a different protest or social cause and the challenges at each site help the players learn more about the theme. Re:Activism was originally designed and played in New York City to raise awareness of the historical strife of the lower east side, touching on events such as the Triangle Shirtwaist fires, the Stonewall Riots, Union Square anti-war protests, and many more.
WHY: The two goals of Re:Activism Twin Cities is to promote awareness of local struggles to the public and to help foster and strengthen connections in the Twin Cities activist community. The game is more than an opportunity to commemorate last year’s struggle in St. Paul. By placing the RNC and its attendant repression within the context of other historical – and ongoing – local struggles, we can create for ourselves an opportunity to draw important parallels and bring these to the front of public discourse. We’d argue that for many, if not most, RNC activists, the point has always been that state oppression is the norm, that police brutality is systemic, that the sanctioned violence experienced by activists on the streets last September was simply a microcosm of the daily violence experienced by diverse communities every single day. Re:Activism Twin cities provides a venue to make these connections between struggles explicit, a way for us to learn about each other and further strengthen our solidarity in a non-threatening, community friendly game experience.
HOW CAN YOU BE INVOLVED:
1. CREATE A SITE: We’re looking for interested groups in the Twin Cities area to help make the game. If you have a cause you want to promote or an event you want to raise awareness of, Re:Activism Twin Cities will make a unique (and fun!) platform for you to bring it to the attention of the public, as well as other activists. To have your cause represented in the game, you will be asked to create a challenge site for the game, which involves selecting a location and creating 3 challenges that help players learn about your cause. It’s not a huge time commitment and promises to be a lot of fun on game day.
2. PLAY: Check out out this group or our tumblr blog for details (reactivismtc.tumblr.com). Or just show up solo or with a team of friends at noon at the Black Dog Cafe in St. Paul.
CONTACT: If you are interested in being involved or have any questions, please email reactivismtwincities@gmail.com. Please pass on your contact information and short description
of your interest in the game.
(read less)SATURDAY, AUGUST 29
ST. PAUL, MN
NOON BLACK DOG CAFE BE THERE!
308 Prince Street (corner of 4th and Broadway)
Re:Activism is a game. And a scavenger hunt. And a history lesson. And an expression of solidarity across struggles. And street theater. And disruption.
Participants visit sites of local struggle and resistance, performing challenges at each to earn points. These could be historical re-enactments relevant to the site, interviews with passersby, or staged protests, among other...
(read more)
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