Collective talent and passion will come together for Humanise Festival of Play, a new take on a games festival, set to take place in Kendal, Cumbria, in 2024, putting culture, community, and experience at the heart of play.
RapidEyeMovers Director Jörg Tittel (C-Smash VRS) and Matt Burke of the Lakes International Comic Arts Festival, and previously Kendal Mountain Festival, have announced Humanise Festival of Play, which is set to revolutionise the festival space, transforming the whole town of Kendal, and its idyllic surroundings into a playable map, bringing the mechanics of games into the real world and consequently reconnecting games to the human experience.
Unlike other gaming events, where you find people sitting in front of computers, Humanise will – akin to a literary or music festival – take games out of solitary digital consumption back into the realm of communal physical experience.
All Humanise events will be organised into three central columns: think, feel, and move, offering something for everyone, regardless of interests, abilities, and needs. Humanise will celebrate the nature of play and bring the beauty and diversity of gaming communities to the forefront.
With funding from Kendal Town, Humanise will transform established and ‘found’ venues, Kendal College’s Mall, and ‘The Box’, Theatre, not to mention carefully selected niche restaurants and bars. The whole town and its wild surroundings will celebrate the joy of games. Kendal will become host to a collective, interactive performance, with digital experiences brought back into the physical world, powered by community.
Kendal will also become the birthplace for games crafted for a more diverse, positive, and inclusive future.
“Since their birth in the arcades, video games have been social and physical experiences, bringing people from all ages and backgrounds together in the joy of play,” says Jörg Tittel. “With the rise of digital platforms – and accelerated by the challenges of the pandemic – games have been further removed from their roots. Games are not tech. They are culture. With games now the world’s dominant art and entertainment, it is time to celebrate, explore and remind people of what makes games human.”
Among others, Humanise will put creators on the theatrical stage, host an arcade competition with the world’s largest arcade stick (requiring multiple players to control one character), as well as the world’s first VR eSports tournament with RapidEyeMovers Golden Joystick nominated pioneering full-body C-Smash VRS taking centre stage.
Smaller events will be peppered around the town, from tabletop RPG, board games and miniature figure painting meetups in unique settings, to intimate talks from indie game developers, live music events and open mics.
During Humanise, Kendal will transform into a place to meet new people and experience something entirely different – not centred around consumerism but around shared experiences. The annual event will be something new and challenge the status quo.
“Through my roles at LICAF and Kendal Mountain Festival, I have instilled the philosophy of an annual ‘tribal gathering’ being at the heart of each event,” says Matt Burke. “Guests have come to embrace this, with public and visitor interactions forging inspirational experiences, creative conversations and unforgettable interactions.
“Humanise intends to establish a ‘place to be’ vibe for our guests, drawing upon the games industry’s leading innovators, disruptors, creatives and fun-loving souls. It will deliver social experiences for guests with unique and creative evening experiences, alongside visitor interactions that aim to celebrate ‘play’ as being central to the human experience.
“Humanise will not compete with existing game events, but instead bring its unique experiences and installations to them, loyal to its core spirit of collaboration and human exchange.”
RapidEyeMovers is a brand-new game production studio and publisher based in London, England. The Golden Joystick nominated C-Smash VRS on PlayStation VR2 is their first game.
Directional, an influential podcast on ‘videogames and the creative rebellion’ hosted by Jörg Tittel and Chantal Ryan, produced by Paul Bennun, is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
Kendal has a long and rich tradition of cultivating festivals, which can be attributed to its extremely well-connected geographical position alongside its natural beauty, sitting between the Lake District National Park World Heritage Site, and the Yorkshire Dales National Park. The Lake District also has a rich cultural heritage and has been recognised as a creative wellspring for centuries, being home to the English poets William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert Southey, and the writers John Ruskin, Alfred Tennyson, Beatrix Potter and Arthur Ransome.
Kendal benefits from the West Coast Mainline railway between Glasgow and London and also the M6 Motorway. Direct connections are made to Manchester and Manchester Airport from Kendal’s ‘Oxenholme’ Station.
The Lakes International Comic Art Festival and Kendal Mountain Festival have for many years welcomed an incredibly diverse, and impressive range of international guests, and leaders in their respective fields to the Town and its natural surroundings. These ‘guests’ have grown to love the unique Festival experience that Kendal can offer, with countless requests to return; they feel that the ‘Kendal experience’ stimulates creativity, innovation, and an adventurous outlook that they take away with them.
Guests range from broadcasters, film makers, writers, visual artists, mountaineers, and all of their associated creative roles who strive ‘to bring something new back to Kendal’ each year.
Given games’ multidisciplinary nature, Humanise will be a culmination of Kendal’s rich and thriving festival culture.
• The dates for Humanise have yet to be announced, but you can sign up for their newsletter on the official website at humanise.games and follow progress on Instagram and Twitter
• RapidEyeMovers Official Website: rapideyemovers.com | Follow RapidEyeMovers on Instagram | Twitter/X
The founder of downthetubes, which he established in 1998. John works as a comics and magazine editor, writer, and on promotional work for the Lakes International Comic Art Festival. He is currently editor of Star Trek Explorer, published by Titan – his third tour of duty on the title originally titled Star Trek Magazine.
Working in British comics publishing since the 1980s, his credits include editor of titles such as Doctor Who Magazine, Babylon 5 Magazine, and more. He also edited the comics anthology STRIP Magazine and edited several audio comics for ROK Comics. He has also edited several comic collections, including volumes of “Charley’s War” and “Dan Dare”.
He’s the writer of “Pilgrim: Secrets and Lies” for B7 Comics; “Crucible”, a creator-owned project with 2000AD artist Smuzz; and “Death Duty” and “Skow Dogs” with Dave Hailwood.
Categories: downthetubes News, Events, Games, Other Worlds
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