Gustavo Artigas (Mexico), Lottie Child (UK), Marc
Herbst (US), Tushar Joag (India), Jakob Kolding
(Denmark), Kasia Krakowiak (Poland), George Henry Longly
(UK), Marta Marcé (UK/Spain), Nils Norman (UK), Dan
Shipsides (UK). Games & Theory brings together the work of
international contemporary artists who share interests
in play, sports and gaming. With works shown in, on and
around Nils Norman's play architecture, viewers are
encouraged to become active participants in the
exhibition and climb, crawl and experience the gallery
in new ways. Taking its cue from Situationist
ideologies, Games & Theory explores the radical
potential of play as a form of resistance and expression
of freedom. Through references to Batman, skateboarding and
New Babylon, the Modernist architectural plan of which
was intended as a playground for living in, Jakob
Kolding's posters encourage city-dwellers to see their
environment as a playground. Tushar Joag’s Dance Your Way Through identifies a
rhythm to the movement of people in the bustle of a
Mumbai subway creating a fun and practical solution to
moving through the crowd. Marc Herbst challenges the
order of urban life by inviting people to meet on street
corners to throw boxes in the air, seeking to form a
community through simple pleasures. Dan Shipsides’s free-climbing performances turn
buildings into rock faces, demonstrating a physical
engagement with our surroundings. Observations of street
life in Brazilian favela form the basis of Lottie
Child’s latest Street Skills Manual. Child explores The
Path to Risk and The Path to Joy, as in the London and
Linz editions, through physical activities challenging
the use of public space. Kasia Krakowiak’s mapping of
public space forms the starting point for a treasure
hunt in which she makes visible Polish culture in London. Marta Marcé uses semi-random elements from
parlour games such as Mikado (pick-up sticks) or puzzles
of her own devising to make decisions on composition in
her paintings and murals. Gustavo Artigas’s video work
The Rules of the Game combines a game of football and
one of basketball on the same field. Competing
simultaneously, Mexican and US high-school teams play
out cultural differences. The controlling structure of
sports also appears in the sculptures and collages of
George Henry Longly. Inspired by HG Wells's Floor Games,
Longly explores the ways in which physical activity is
used to regiment and control young minds. | 
