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BY DAVID BLANDY
For the past few years David Blandy has been experimenting with the form of group worlding, using voice, writing and drawing to imagine new worlds and societal systems collaboratively.
In Gathering Storm, Blandy explored the impacts of colonial food production. His paternal grandfather was part of the Swynnerton Plan in the 1950s, a British Government scheme to gain favour with the black middle class in Kenya, a form of social engineering through agriculture, with the aim of creating an African middle class.
The game guides the players through this new world, each adding elements to a map, imagining a postcolonial sci-fi world and providing a set of characters to inhabit this space through a streamlined standard card-based system. Through a series of prompts, players come to terms with hidden histories and present injustices.
Blandy’s most recent collaborative game is Alien Pastoral: The Strain, which centres on a biological research station, run by an Authority, as the scientists try to engineer a new strain of plant to solve an existential problem. The game explores the strange and often blurred spaces between agriculture, technology and capitalism. Players collaboratively design a research station complete with seedbeds, orchards and laboratories to experience how relationships change with their environment.
Blandy writes “Radical adaptation is what is called for. One thing is adapting the way we live and the world we live in. Another is adapting our minds to conceive of different ways of living. One way that we can build new associations, and normalise different lives, is through immersive play. We become different identities, in difficult situations, and think through matrices of responses, of who we might be, how we might act in this alien environment. Tabletop RPGs allow each player to enter into narratives where nothing is predetermined, where the fiction is made through collaboration between all the minds at the table.
We’re seeking new strategies to survive, and it may be in this time of flux that vegetal species are seeking new strategies too. Our lives are already incredibly symbiotic with certain species of plant, taking great care to nurture the varieties that sustain us and our livestock. The Strain examines what would happen if that symbiosis was even more intimate, taking place in our own bodies.”
For the past few years David Blandy has been experimenting with the form of group worlding, using voice, writing and drawing to imagine new worlds and societal systems collaboratively.
In Gathering Storm, Blandy explored the impacts of colonial food production. His paternal grandfather was part of the Swynnerton Plan in the 1950s, a British Government scheme to gain favour with the black middle class in Kenya, a form of social engineering through agriculture, with the aim of creating an African middle class.
The game guides the players through this new world, each adding elements to a map, imagining a postcolonial sci-fi world and providing a set of characters to inhabit this space through a streamlined standard card-based system. Through a series of prompts, players come to terms with hidden histories and present injustices.
Blandy’s most recent collaborative game is Alien Pastoral: The Strain, which centres on a biological research station, run by an Authority, as the scientists try to engineer a new strain of plant to solve an existential problem. The game explores the strange and often blurred spaces between agriculture, technology and capitalism. Players collaboratively design a research station complete with seedbeds, orchards and laboratories to experience how relationships change with their environment.
Blandy writes “Radical adaptation is what is called for. One thing is adapting the way we live and the world we live in. Another is adapting our minds to conceive of different ways of living. One way that we can build new associations, and normalise different lives, is through immersive play. We become different identities, in difficult situations, and think through matrices of responses, of who we might be, how we might act in this alien environment. Tabletop RPGs allow each player to enter into narratives where nothing is predetermined, where the fiction is made through collaboration between all the minds at the table.
We’re seeking new strategies to survive, and it may be in this time of flux that vegetal species are seeking new strategies too. Our lives are already incredibly symbiotic with certain species of plant, taking great care to nurture the varieties that sustain us and our livestock. The Strain examines what would happen if that symbiosis was even more intimate, taking place in our own bodies.”
Gathering Storm was developed by David Blandy as a UK associate at the Delfina Foundation for The Politics of Food residency programme, with the partnership of Gaia Art Foundation.
Alien Pastoral: The Strain was commissioned as part of the Serpentine Gallery Infinite Ecologies Marathon, London, UK, September 2024. Curated by Lucia Pietroiusti, Head of Ecologies, and Daisy Gould, Assistant Curator, Live Programmes. Produced by Isobel Peyton-Jones, Producer.
Alien Pastoral: The Strain was part of PLANT LAB: MOTH (More Than Human Rights) at COP16
BY DAVID BLANDY
For the past few years David Blandy has been experimenting with the form of group worlding, using voice, writing and drawing to imagine new worlds and societal systems collaboratively.
In Gathering Storm, Blandy explored the impacts of colonial food production. His paternal grandfather was part of the Swynnerton Plan in the 1950s, a British Government scheme to gain favour with the black middle class in Kenya, a form of social engineering through agriculture, with the aim of creating an African middle class.
The game guides the players through this new world, each adding elements to a map, imagining a postcolonial sci-fi world and providing a set of characters to inhabit this space through a streamlined standard card-based system. Through a series of prompts, players come to terms with hidden histories and present injustices.
Blandy’s most recent collaborative game is Alien Pastoral: The Strain, which centres on a biological research station, run by an Authority, as the scientists try to engineer a new strain of plant to solve an existential problem. The game explores the strange and often blurred spaces between agriculture, technology and capitalism. Players collaboratively design a research station complete with seedbeds, orchards and laboratories to experience how relationships change with their environment.
Blandy writes “Radical adaptation is what is called for. One thing is adapting the way we live and the world we live in. Another is adapting our minds to conceive of different ways of living. One way that we can build new associations, and normalise different lives, is through immersive play. We become different identities, in difficult situations, and think through matrices of responses, of who we might be, how we might act in this alien environment. Tabletop RPGs allow each player to enter into narratives where nothing is predetermined, where the fiction is made through collaboration between all the minds at the table.
We’re seeking new strategies to survive, and it may be in this time of flux that vegetal species are seeking new strategies too. Our lives are already incredibly symbiotic with certain species of plant, taking great care to nurture the varieties that sustain us and our livestock. The Strain examines what would happen if that symbiosis was even more intimate, taking place in our own bodies.”
For the past few years David Blandy has been experimenting with the form of group worlding, using voice, writing and drawing to imagine new worlds and societal systems collaboratively.
In Gathering Storm, Blandy explored the impacts of colonial food production. His paternal grandfather was part of the Swynnerton Plan in the 1950s, a British Government scheme to gain favour with the black middle class in Kenya, a form of social engineering through agriculture, with the aim of creating an African middle class.
The game guides the players through this new world, each adding elements to a map, imagining a postcolonial sci-fi world and providing a set of characters to inhabit this space through a streamlined standard card-based system. Through a series of prompts, players come to terms with hidden histories and present injustices.
Blandy’s most recent collaborative game is Alien Pastoral: The Strain, which centres on a biological research station, run by an Authority, as the scientists try to engineer a new strain of plant to solve an existential problem. The game explores the strange and often blurred spaces between agriculture, technology and capitalism. Players collaboratively design a research station complete with seedbeds, orchards and laboratories to experience how relationships change with their environment.
Blandy writes “Radical adaptation is what is called for. One thing is adapting the way we live and the world we live in. Another is adapting our minds to conceive of different ways of living. One way that we can build new associations, and normalise different lives, is through immersive play. We become different identities, in difficult situations, and think through matrices of responses, of who we might be, how we might act in this alien environment. Tabletop RPGs allow each player to enter into narratives where nothing is predetermined, where the fiction is made through collaboration between all the minds at the table.
We’re seeking new strategies to survive, and it may be in this time of flux that vegetal species are seeking new strategies too. Our lives are already incredibly symbiotic with certain species of plant, taking great care to nurture the varieties that sustain us and our livestock. The Strain examines what would happen if that symbiosis was even more intimate, taking place in our own bodies.”
Gathering Storm was developed by David Blandy as a UK associate at the Delfina Foundation for The Politics of Food residency programme, with the partnership of Gaia Art Foundation.
Alien Pastoral: The Strain was commissioned as part of the Serpentine Gallery Infinite Ecologies Marathon, London, UK, September 2024. Curated by Lucia Pietroiusti, Head of Ecologies, and Daisy Gould, Assistant Curator, Live Programmes. Produced by Isobel Peyton-Jones, Producer.
Alien Pastoral: The Strain was part of PLANT LAB: MOTH (More Than Human Rights) at COP16
BY DAVID BLANDY
For the past few years David Blandy has been experimenting with the form of group worlding, using voice, writing and drawing to imagine new worlds and societal systems collaboratively.
In Gathering Storm, Blandy explored the impacts of colonial food production. His paternal grandfather was part of the Swynnerton Plan in the 1950s, a British Government scheme to gain favour with the black middle class in Kenya, a form of social engineering through agriculture, with the aim of creating an African middle class.
The game guides the players through this new world, each adding elements to a map, imagining a postcolonial sci-fi world and providing a set of characters to inhabit this space through a streamlined standard card-based system. Through a series of prompts, players come to terms with hidden histories and present injustices.
Blandy’s most recent collaborative game is Alien Pastoral: The Strain, which centres on a biological research station, run by an Authority, as the scientists try to engineer a new strain of plant to solve an existential problem. The game explores the strange and often blurred spaces between agriculture, technology and capitalism. Players collaboratively design a research station complete with seedbeds, orchards and laboratories to experience how relationships change with their environment.
Blandy writes “Radical adaptation is what is called for. One thing is adapting the way we live and the world we live in. Another is adapting our minds to conceive of different ways of living. One way that we can build new associations, and normalise different lives, is through immersive play. We become different identities, in difficult situations, and think through matrices of responses, of who we might be, how we might act in this alien environment. Tabletop RPGs allow each player to enter into narratives where nothing is predetermined, where the fiction is made through collaboration between all the minds at the table.
We’re seeking new strategies to survive, and it may be in this time of flux that vegetal species are seeking new strategies too. Our lives are already incredibly symbiotic with certain species of plant, taking great care to nurture the varieties that sustain us and our livestock. The Strain examines what would happen if that symbiosis was even more intimate, taking place in our own bodies.”
For the past few years David Blandy has been experimenting with the form of group worlding, using voice, writing and drawing to imagine new worlds and societal systems collaboratively.
In Gathering Storm, Blandy explored the impacts of colonial food production. His paternal grandfather was part of the Swynnerton Plan in the 1950s, a British Government scheme to gain favour with the black middle class in Kenya, a form of social engineering through agriculture, with the aim of creating an African middle class.
The game guides the players through this new world, each adding elements to a map, imagining a postcolonial sci-fi world and providing a set of characters to inhabit this space through a streamlined standard card-based system. Through a series of prompts, players come to terms with hidden histories and present injustices.
Blandy’s most recent collaborative game is Alien Pastoral: The Strain, which centres on a biological research station, run by an Authority, as the scientists try to engineer a new strain of plant to solve an existential problem. The game explores the strange and often blurred spaces between agriculture, technology and capitalism. Players collaboratively design a research station complete with seedbeds, orchards and laboratories to experience how relationships change with their environment.
Blandy writes “Radical adaptation is what is called for. One thing is adapting the way we live and the world we live in. Another is adapting our minds to conceive of different ways of living. One way that we can build new associations, and normalise different lives, is through immersive play. We become different identities, in difficult situations, and think through matrices of responses, of who we might be, how we might act in this alien environment. Tabletop RPGs allow each player to enter into narratives where nothing is predetermined, where the fiction is made through collaboration between all the minds at the table.
We’re seeking new strategies to survive, and it may be in this time of flux that vegetal species are seeking new strategies too. Our lives are already incredibly symbiotic with certain species of plant, taking great care to nurture the varieties that sustain us and our livestock. The Strain examines what would happen if that symbiosis was even more intimate, taking place in our own bodies.”
Gathering Storm was developed by David Blandy as a UK associate at the Delfina Foundation for The Politics of Food residency programme, with the partnership of Gaia Art Foundation.
Alien Pastoral: The Strain was commissioned as part of the Serpentine Gallery Infinite Ecologies Marathon, London, UK, September 2024. Curated by Lucia Pietroiusti, Head of Ecologies, and Daisy Gould, Assistant Curator, Live Programmes. Produced by Isobel Peyton-Jones, Producer.
Alien Pastoral: The Strain was part of PLANT LAB: MOTH (More Than Human Rights) at COP16
BY DAVID BLANDY
For the past few years David Blandy has been experimenting with the form of group worlding, using voice, writing and drawing to imagine new worlds and societal systems collaboratively.
In Gathering Storm, Blandy explored the impacts of colonial food production. His paternal grandfather was part of the Swynnerton Plan in the 1950s, a British Government scheme to gain favour with the black middle class in Kenya, a form of social engineering through agriculture, with the aim of creating an African middle class.
The game guides the players through this new world, each adding elements to a map, imagining a postcolonial sci-fi world and providing a set of characters to inhabit this space through a streamlined standard card-based system. Through a series of prompts, players come to terms with hidden histories and present injustices.
Blandy’s most recent collaborative game is Alien Pastoral: The Strain, which centres on a biological research station, run by an Authority, as the scientists try to engineer a new strain of plant to solve an existential problem. The game explores the strange and often blurred spaces between agriculture, technology and capitalism. Players collaboratively design a research station complete with seedbeds, orchards and laboratories to experience how relationships change with their environment.
Blandy writes “Radical adaptation is what is called for. One thing is adapting the way we live and the world we live in. Another is adapting our minds to conceive of different ways of living. One way that we can build new associations, and normalise different lives, is through immersive play. We become different identities, in difficult situations, and think through matrices of responses, of who we might be, how we might act in this alien environment. Tabletop RPGs allow each player to enter into narratives where nothing is predetermined, where the fiction is made through collaboration between all the minds at the table.
We’re seeking new strategies to survive, and it may be in this time of flux that vegetal species are seeking new strategies too. Our lives are already incredibly symbiotic with certain species of plant, taking great care to nurture the varieties that sustain us and our livestock. The Strain examines what would happen if that symbiosis was even more intimate, taking place in our own bodies.”
For the past few years David Blandy has been experimenting with the form of group worlding, using voice, writing and drawing to imagine new worlds and societal systems collaboratively.
In Gathering Storm, Blandy explored the impacts of colonial food production. His paternal grandfather was part of the Swynnerton Plan in the 1950s, a British Government scheme to gain favour with the black middle class in Kenya, a form of social engineering through agriculture, with the aim of creating an African middle class.
The game guides the players through this new world, each adding elements to a map, imagining a postcolonial sci-fi world and providing a set of characters to inhabit this space through a streamlined standard card-based system. Through a series of prompts, players come to terms with hidden histories and present injustices.
Blandy’s most recent collaborative game is Alien Pastoral: The Strain, which centres on a biological research station, run by an Authority, as the scientists try to engineer a new strain of plant to solve an existential problem. The game explores the strange and often blurred spaces between agriculture, technology and capitalism. Players collaboratively design a research station complete with seedbeds, orchards and laboratories to experience how relationships change with their environment.
Blandy writes “Radical adaptation is what is called for. One thing is adapting the way we live and the world we live in. Another is adapting our minds to conceive of different ways of living. One way that we can build new associations, and normalise different lives, is through immersive play. We become different identities, in difficult situations, and think through matrices of responses, of who we might be, how we might act in this alien environment. Tabletop RPGs allow each player to enter into narratives where nothing is predetermined, where the fiction is made through collaboration between all the minds at the table.
We’re seeking new strategies to survive, and it may be in this time of flux that vegetal species are seeking new strategies too. Our lives are already incredibly symbiotic with certain species of plant, taking great care to nurture the varieties that sustain us and our livestock. The Strain examines what would happen if that symbiosis was even more intimate, taking place in our own bodies.”
Gathering Storm was developed by David Blandy as a UK associate at the Delfina Foundation for The Politics of Food residency programme, with the partnership of Gaia Art Foundation.
Alien Pastoral: The Strain was commissioned as part of the Serpentine Gallery Infinite Ecologies Marathon, London, UK, September 2024. Curated by Lucia Pietroiusti, Head of Ecologies, and Daisy Gould, Assistant Curator, Live Programmes. Produced by Isobel Peyton-Jones, Producer.
Alien Pastoral: The Strain was part of PLANT LAB: MOTH (More Than Human Rights) at COP16