culturecapital online on Tuesday 27 October 2020
Channel: HowlRound Theatre Commons
Date: 2020-10-28

Presenting the fourth round of culturecapital:online LUKE REECE vs DANI FECKO livestreaming on the global, commons-based, peer-produced HowlRound TV network at howlround.tv on Tuesday 27 October 2020 at 6 p.m. PDT (Vancouver, UTC-7) / 8 p.m. CDT (Chicago, UTC-5) / 9 p.m. EDT (Toronto, UTC-4) / Thursday 21 May 10:00 KST (Seoul, UTC+9) / 13:00 NZST (Auckland, UTC+12).

culturecapital is a live art project that takes the form of a collectible card game and living archive. The project is constructed from two sets of data: (1) hundreds of interviews with artists about their experiences making performance in Canada and (2) five years worth of municipal, provincial, and federal public funding data on performing arts companies. Using this information, the game strives to create a context in which players can question, understand, and celebrate how value is determined, shifted, and produced within theatre, dance, and live arts in Canada. No prior knowledge of art or games is required.

In July 2020, culturecapital was awarded funding from the Canada Council for the Arts’ Digital Originals fund to create a series of online matches. In the spirit of the game, it only seems right that much of that funding should be allocated through competition. The game’s creators, Milton Lim and Patrick Blenkarn, have invited artists from Vancouver (BC), Calgary (AB), and Toronto (ON) to play. The winner of each match takes home $500 CAD of sweet art money.

How to Play: Adopting the role of stewards of the arts, players summon Companies, roll a die for government Grants, use those Grants to realize Projects, and then use those Projects to compete for Communities. Strategy cards are played to change the tide of the competition and whoever has the most Communities at the end, wins. Depending on how the cards are played, satire can be front and centre. But at other times, the cards dealt can offer a genuine window into the complexities of the relationship that artists have with public funding, being socially relevant, and navigating a rapidly changing landscape of ethics, politics, and economics within the arts.

For more information about the game or to order your own deck, click here.

To read Milton and Patrick’s recent article for HowlRound, “Shuffling Performance Discourse,” click here.

About the Artists: Milton Lim and Patrick Blenkarn are artists based in Vancouver, BC. Together, their collaborations constitute a framework for investigating labour and value, for utilizing game mechanics in performance, and for exploring alternative contexts of discourse. They are the co-founding archivists of videocan.ca and faculty members at the New Performance School.

https://howlround.com/happenings/livestreaming-culturecapitalonline-luke-reece-vs-dani-fecko