Making Politics: Commemoration, Resistance, and Play

Can art be a catalyst for change in times of war and conflict? What role can creative acts of counter-memorialization, interventionist practices, play, and participatory art take to change how we perceive and act upon issues of contemporary and historical violence and in the broader politics of memory? Over four decades, media artist and activist Joseph DeLappe has forged a distinctive artistic practice involving the creative and critical use of games, public intervention, sculpture, performance, and activism.

In this talk, the artist will share documentation from a diversity of creative projects and actions developed over the past several decades that utilize digital and analogue processes to creatively address such questions. A lineage of works, including video games, public actions (online and IRL), participatory making, performance, play, protest and memorialization will illuminate upon his critical and interrogative strategies engaging the intersections of art, technology, and social engagement.
Joseph DeLappe is Professor of Games and Tactical Media at Abertay University in Dundee, Scotland.