Can you tell us about your background?
Before getting a grown up desk job at the university, I worked as a choreographer and artistic leader of a dance company for ten years. Besides for the artistic aspects of the work, I took care of a wide range of administrative and practical things - anything from raising funding for projects, organising tours, teaching workshops, to washing floors ahead of the shows and even handling an overheated video projector with oven mitts. So basically anything and everything could be thrown my way, and since what we were doing was usually my idea to begin with, I was responsible for dealing with and solving any problems that arose.
Now you are working as the administrator of the JEUX project. Do you see links between your earlier work and your work on the project?
I am used to working with publicly funded projects so there are definitely many links. I also think the dynamic range of tasks from my earlier career prepared me to meet the challenges of supporting a project of this scale. Especially since JEUX only started this year, there has been a lot going on and even some unexpected challenges that have required the kind of problem solving mindset that I developed during my time of running a small independent dance company. And of course my background in performing arts also means that I was more than keen to participate in the pilots this year, as it gave me an opportunity to work creatively and collaboratively with others. It is not often that in the paper pushing reality of office life we get to do this, so I am grateful for the experience. It also gave me deeper insight into the project
Are you a player yourself?
Yes and no. Depends on how you define a player and what the game is. My immediate response to this question was no, because my first association of being a player has to do with games from my childhood and bad memories from sports classes. All of that has to do with following rules, and where failing to do so is often met with social disapproval or even some sort of punishment.
But then, I do like to play, and I tend to include elements of play, make believe and story telling in my life in any way I can. Often this is very collaborative and I enjoy that aspect a lot - the little surprises other people introduce by changing or breaking the rules that then expand my own perspective of what is possible. This happened in the JEUX pilot games a lot.
So basically, if the game has to do with following rules, gaining points or aiming to win, then it is a no. However, if the game is about creating and building something together, then it is a definite yes: I am a player.
You've played in serveral of our pilots - what did surprise you most?
How much fun it was! I expected it to be an interesting experience, but I never expected that I’d be laughing out loud so wholeheartedly and enjoying myself so thoroughly. I was quite nervous each time beforehand, but it did not take long before I overcame any self-consciousness, as I got so engaged in what was happening. In many ways the experience induced something akin to a flow state in me.
I was also surprised by the variety and richness of human creativity, and how quickly a collaboration emerged where the group came in support of a struggling or stuck player. It shows that even though we are so isolated in our little digital bubbles these days, we still have this human quality of wanting to work and play together. And that perhaps all we need are the prompts and tools to do so?