Immersive theatre, instruction-based performance, art larp, role-playing performance: interesting stuff is happening in the intersection(s) between larp and art. It used to be that larpwrights would venture into visual arts and durational shows to steal ideas. During the last decade such excursions have become more evenly distributed, with larp and role-play ideas being infused in other fields.

We feel that it would be interesting to bring together people who are working in the areas of larp and art, incorporating elements of pretend play, durational experience, narrative co-creation, inter-immersion, character fidelity, and game mechanics in their works. Thus we invite you to participate in the first-ever SUBLIME PRETENSE symposium, organised in Tampere just before the four-day larp convention Solmukohta kicks off.

If you would like to sign up for a 10-minute slot to present past work or current practice that relates to art and larp, please send a short 200-word pitch to sublimepretense@gmail.com by March 17th. We will start with your presentations, then have lunch and finish with discussions. We are particularly interested in your practical approaches in creation, challenges and insights encountered along the way, and ways of positioning your work as art, larp, or both. In other words, talking about what you are doing in practical terms (and why) is a solid approach. 

The event is free of charge. It runs from 9:30-14:00 on Thursday, April 11th, 2024. 

Sublime Pretense is organized by Jamie MacDonald & Jaakko Stenros, in collaboration with Solmukohta 2024 and A Week in Finland, as well as Center of Excellence in Game Culture Studies, Tampere University.