Drisk's Weekly Thing's To Do in London (Working Title) 26th July

So lots of other places publish a list of great things to do each week. A lot of these lists seem to almost be the catwalk list, I mean it all looks like great and really fucking cool but you'd never wear it out of the house. - I got a little lost in the analogy there I just mean I'm tired of these lists of ultra-cool things to do in London. I'm clearly not that cool so have decided to do my own ready-to-wear collection of things to do each week.

This list will be made up of events/shows/activities that I will either be attending or, in the case of one of today's entries, would go to if I wasn't already going to something else.

1. Liliane Lijn: Power Game @ The ICA - Tuesday 28th at 7pm

Okay an obscureish event at an art gallery possibly wasn't a great way to start my prêt-à-porter colelction of activities but I always find the ICA a completely unpretensious place to go whether you're there for an exhibition, movie or gig there always seems to be a nice variety of people and they have a great bar/cafe area.

This piece was originally staged in 1974 at theRoyal College of Art as part of the Festival for Chilean Resistance. This performance is an unrehearsed piece where 20 guests are invited to bet real money on their perception of the power of certain words. Members of the public are also invited to join but will need to put down a minimum of a fiver to play, alternatively you can watch all the action from the bar (this would be my preferred option).

The game is played with a deck of cards; on each card a word is printed and players are asked to place these words in a hierarchy of power. - This is about as much as I know about how the whole thing works and as I am otherwise preoccupied on this night it may be all I ever know about it. (My parents will be in attendance though so I will hopefully be able to give you some form of feedback)

Liliane Lijn, Power Game, 2009

2. Hide & Seek Festival @ Royal Festival Hall - 31st July - 2nd August

Hide&Seek ran their first event in 2007, in 2007 this was London's first pervasive gaming festival.

Quick explanation of pervasive gaming - it should be noted that while I am very interested in the area I am still pretty new to it and it's still a developing field, so apologies for any mistakes I make. Pervasive gaming is [very] basically a game that is interwoven with our everyday lives and use modern communication technology to achieve an interface between the virtual and the physical. It must be said that Hide&Seek don't seem to adhere to a strict definition of pervasive gaming and are mroe interested in the social aspect. ANNNNYYYYWAYYYYY...

Hide&Seek runs all weekend with a programme (click for programme) of events for each day. Games include:
- Secret Agent: a game where players are given an ear peiece and must follow orders received through the ear piece in order to win a game (although first they need to discover how the game is won)
- Papparazzi - participants use their stalking skills to snap photos of 'celbrities' indulgin in scandalous activities to earn points. (I recently heard some good reviews from a similar game run in New York's pervasive gaming festival)

Sunday is family day, it's almost enough to make me wish I had kids.

http://hideandseekfest.co.uk/

Here's a video from hide and seek advertising the 2007 game, you'll notice his definition of pervasive gaming is different to mine



3. Field Day Festival @ Victoria Park - 1st August at 11.30am

I was starting to think this week would never come but finally it is the week of Field Day.

Other than having one of the best line ups of any festival this year (my highlights being Malcolm Middleton, Final Fantasy and Santigold), it also seems like the kind of thing I would go to if there was no music at all. Field Day have gone out of their way to create a unique festival experience which has a more rural village fete feel than any other festival despite being in Hackney. I'm even quite excited by the food they're going to have there with Sourced Market coming down along with representatives from Borough and Broadway Markets.

Full Line up at http://www.fielddayfestivals.com/lineup/

Sorry I got a little carried away on this one but I'll keep them more concise next time.