7 - 8 July 2023Apocalyptic Game Day
July 7 | 6 pm | Heidelberger Kunstverein
Heidelberger Kunstverein, Hauptstrasse 97, 69117 Heidelberg
Ecology and Games – Teaser for the upcoming exhibition „Tracing the Seeping Terrain"
Presentation by Dominik Rinnhofer – Discussion with Johanna Hardt (HDKV) and Philipp Schrögel (CAPAS)
Can computer games help to stop global warming? What influence do games have on our behaviour towards the environment? And how many resources do we consume when we play games? These and other questions were addressed by "Eco Games", an exhibition in 2021 at ZKM Karlsruhe as part of "zkm_gameplay. the next level", curated by Dominik Rinnhofer. What impulses can be derived from this for the connections between science, art, games and the environment?
The event is planned as a teaser for the exhibition „Tracing a Seeping Terrain“ by Eloïse Bonneviot and Anne de Boer, which will open on 1 September at Heidelberger Kunstverein. The artists explore interspecies relationships, climate fears and world-building. For the HDKV, they are creating a system of interactive sculptures that are connected to a virtual landscape and can be activated by visitors. (Image: Eloïse Bonneviot and Anne de Boer)
Dominik Rinnhofer, Professor of Game Design at the macromedia University of Applied Sciences, has been working in the field of tension between teaching, art and design for over 20 years. As Creative Director and Managing Director of PONG.LI Studios (until 2019), he developed serious games and interactive applications for museums and exhibitions. These include numerous games, flight simulators, casual games, simulations for touch interfaces and award-winning mapping games. (Photo: Hannah Cooke)
July 8 | 12 pm | Fantasy Kolosseum Heidelberg
Fantasy Kolosseum, Poststraße 36/7, 69115 Heidelberg
10 am | Pre-Programme | Workshop „Hacking the Apocalypse: An introduction to analogue game design“
(registration required – via Email: capas@uni-heidelberg.de)
12 pm | Lunch Talks „Games and Science“ (Englisch)
„Developing a Science Boardgame on Habitable Planets“
(Team Habitable, HITS Heidelberg)
Most exoplanets are unlikely to host life, but a fraction of them are located in a particular region, called the habitable zone, which allows for the presence of liquid water on their surface. So far, we only know of one planet located in the habitable zone of its star which harbors life – our own planet, Earth. However, due to the activity of the human life it hosts, the mean temperature of the Earth and other crucial properties are changing rapidly, causing real danger to the habitability of the Earth. With our project, „habitable“, we aim to explain the concept of the habitability of a planet to the public and to draw attention to the current state of the Earth and to the consequences of our actions.
The project is part of the Hochschulwettbewerb in the Year of Science 2023 – Our Universe. We are an international team of astrophysicists from undergraduate to postdoc level in the Stellar Evolution Theory group at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies (HITS). Our research focuses on all stages of stellar evolution, beginning from the formation of star in giant gas clouds to supernova explosions and black holes. (Foto: HITS)
„Modelling, Simulating, and Playing the End of the World As We Know It: Tabletop and Computer Role-Playing Games as (Post-)Apocalyptic Story Engines"
(Adrian Hermann, Universität Bonn)
Visions of the apocalypse and the building and exploration of (post-)apocalyptic worlds have been a central topos of the history of tabletop and computer role-playing games (TRPGs and CRPGs), which can be understood as attempts to model, simulate, and make playable (post-)apocalyptic worlds through creating a setting, providing a system of rules, and facilitating the creation of characters to play in these emergent narratives.
Since 2017, Adrian Hermann has been the Professor of Religion and Society for the Forum Internationale Wissenschaft, at the University of Bonn (Germany). He specializes in the global history of religion in the 19th and 20th centuries and has recently begun to engage in the field of role-playing game studies. In 2022, he has been a fellow at CAPAS in Heidelberg. (Foto: Eva Bergdolt, CAPAS)
1-6PM | Boardgames & Tabletop-Roleplaying Games
Stop by and join a game any time!
Beginners welcome – no knowledge or experience required!
Game sessions in German and English
Roleplaying-Games: D&D 5e, Zombie World, Ein ruhiges Jahr, Blades in the Dark, Mörk Borg, u.a.
Boardgames: Fallout Shelter, Plague Inc, Zombicide, sowie ggf. Aftermath, Pandemic
In addition: Test session for the science boardgame Habitable (in development)!