Unruly Play
An archive of play in unlikely places, activated in a choreographed evening with strangers.
Play belongs in more places.
Play is permission to have new ideas, to question what's fixed, and to meet people you might never have met otherwise. It's how change gets rehearsed before there's a business case, before anyone approves it.
Unruly Play is an archive of references from the artists, designers and communities we admire: play in unlikely places, games about unusual things, unexpected encounters, across decades and countries. Some of them happened right here: Pac-Man chased through Washington Square, snowballs for sale on Cooper Square priced by size, a ping-pong table in Queens where every bounce plays a drum. Turns out the archive is a bit of a New Yorker.
This is a creative gathering for anyone who suspects their practice could use more play, and anyone whose work could use a little more permission. Expect a choreographed evening with the archive as backdrop: instructions, bent rules, strange moments between strangers.
Program
Multiplayer networking. Creative coalitions. No small talk.
7:00–7:30
Doors open. Skip the small talk: strangers, on and off script.
7:30–8:20
The archive comes alive: a short talk, and a few things we’ll play together.
8:20–9:00
Small groups take on provocations from organizations we’ve invited to the room.
Facilitators
Monique Grimord is an art director and interaction designer. Her career spans advertising, tech, gaming and architecture, and she designs playful experiences for brands and cultural initiatives. She holds a Master’s from SCAD.
Vitor Freire is a creative director and choreographer of experiences. With a background in filmmaking and experience design, he leads groups into playgrounds for radical imagination, working across cultural strategy, game design and narrative uses of technology. He holds a Master’s from NYU (Tisch, ITP).
Together, they founded Imagination of Things, a play studio for art and design. They are based in Amsterdam, working across London, New York and São Paulo. For over ten years, their experience design practice has turned play into a method for encounter, inquiry and collective imagination, collaborating with brands, institutions and teams.
This year they launched Unruly Play, an interactive archive celebrating their references and inspiration, a constellation that reveals how they think and what infuses their work.
Refunds
We get that things come up, but we rely on headcounts to make our programs viable. If you request a refund...
More than 4 weeks before the program begins → 100% refund
More than 2 weeks before the program begins → 50% refund
Fewer than 2 weeks before the program begins → No refund
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Media Release Clause
By attending this event, you consent to being photographed, filmed, or recorded, and grant Index Space permission to use this content for promotional or informational purposes.