The game designer in residence programme has finally begun! For those new to this blog, I will be working in the V&A Museum for six months developing a game design inspired by the British Galleries, which displays art and design from 1500-1900. After the six months are up, I will be working at the University of Abertay in Dundee to create the game. This residency is in partnership between the V&A, V&A at Dundee and the University of Abertay Dundee, and organised in collaboration with The Association for UK Interactive Entertainment (UKIE).
My studio is on the second floor of the Sackler Centre and I have been slowly bringing my books and equipment to make this place a bit more personal. My first ‘Open Studio’ is next week on the 16th of October, where the public can come in and chat to me about my work. The previous resident here was Julia Lohmann, who was a designer that worked with seaweed throughout her time at the V&A (She named herself Head of the Department of Seaweed at the V&A – which is awesome!) I enjoyed looking at her work on her website, and I find it very sweet when I find random bits of seaweed in my studio!
So far, my first week and has been inductions, meetings and generally getting to know the place. I’ve noticed that I love walking through the galleries early in the morning before the public can explore the museum. I had a great opportunity to look around a floor of the British Galleries with the curators telling me about the most popular items, how the gallery came about and its aspirations and goals. I found it so incredibly interesting and I took lots of notes, so I think I will do a blog post about the British Galleries in future. I am also keen to do a few case studies on my website focusing on artists and ‘trendsetters’ of those eras, such as artist and textile designer William Morris
So far, my first week and has been inductions, meetings and generally getting to know the place. I’ve noticed that I love walking through the galleries early in the morning before the public can explore the museum. I had a great opportunity to look around a floor of the British Galleries with the curators telling me about the most popular items, how the gallery came about and its aspirations and goals. I found it so incredibly interesting and I took lots of notes, so I think I will do a blog post about the British Galleries in future. I am also keen to do a few case studies on my website focusing on artists and ‘trendsetters’ of those eras, such as artist and textile designer William Morris
'Strawberry Thief' by William Morris (1883)
While exploring the V&A, I managed to go to the Tomorrow Exhibition, which runs from 1st October to 2nd January 2014. This installation in the former Textiles galleries is a collaboration between contemporary artists Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset. The space has been transformed into a South Kensington apartment, by using objects from the V&A’s collections, as well as work by artists and market antiques. The visitors to the exhibition receive a script which tells the story of the inhabitants of the apartment. It was an interesting experience to read the script of Tomorrow while standing in each of the rooms where the narrative takes place – I think it’s a very innovative way to tell a story while exhibiting historic design.
Other than my start at V&A, I was honoured as a BAFTA Breakthrough Brit. This initiative, which is in partnership with Burberry, is a year-long mentoring programme for me and 16 other individuals from TV, film and games. We will get to meet industry leaders in our field and get to go to BAFTA events throughout the year. Breakthrough Brits is launching on the 21st of October with a careers guidance day, followed by a reception at Burberry’s Regent Street store.
I have also been nominated in the Women of the Future Awards in the digital category and went to an ambassador’s reception event last night were I spoke to college students about their career aspirations.
Finally, I was filmed for an independent documentary about retro games on Sunday. The film is called 1UP: The Rise of Retro Video Games and you can see more about the project here: https://www.facebook.com/1upmovie
I have also been nominated in the Women of the Future Awards in the digital category and went to an ambassador’s reception event last night were I spoke to college students about their career aspirations.
Finally, I was filmed for an independent documentary about retro games on Sunday. The film is called 1UP: The Rise of Retro Video Games and you can see more about the project here: https://www.facebook.com/1upmovie
We filmed my segment on a very sunny day at Primrose Hill Park!
