Nordic Larp Talks

Category: News

  • Nordic Larp Talks Helsinki 2012

    From the esthethic view of being a god in the immigrant camps of Finland to being on top of the digital game era and doing the tango with vampires in the Winter Garden. 
    We are larp.

    Nordic Larp Talks Helsinki 2012 – was an evening of entertaining, thought-provoking and mind-boggling lectures about projects and ideas from the Nordic tradition of live action roleplaying games. 

    SPEAKERS

    Mike Pohjola – How to become a god

    Johanna Macdonald – From preforming arts to larp

    Claus Raasted – Larpification 

    JP Kaljonen – The interplay between player and man in the street

    Panel with Mikko Rautalahti & Andie Nordgren – Getting A Haircut And A Real Job

    Jesper Bruun – Experimental Larp Design

    Lizzie Stark – Playing in Graveyards: Terror collides with larp

    The talks where presented by writer, radio & television host as well as winner of the innovator category of this years The Swedish Grand Journalism Prize award, Johanna Koljonen.

    It was live streamed on talks.nordiclarp.org/ and all talks are now available to watch with the player above. During the next days they will be published as separate clips.

    NLT 2012 Helsinki was part of the A Week in Helsinki-program prior to the roleplaying conference Solmukohta. 

    DSC_0297

    Photo by Tuomas Puikkonen (CC BY 2.0)


    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TluzQBYCQSk]

    Prior to the talks we livestreamed the presentation of this years Solmukohta book, States of Play by the editor Juhana Petterson. You can download the book as pdf at the site nordicrpg.fi.

    Nordic Larp Talks Helsinki 2012 took place on April 11th at the PRKL club in central Helsinki, Kaisaniemenkatu 4. Hosted by Johanna Koljonen and produced and livestreamed by Petter Karlsson & Björn Falkevik from Falkevik & Danehav. Big thanks to the whole A Week in Helsinki crew for making this happen.

  • Thank you for Nordic Larp Talks Copenhagen 2011

    Last night a packed room at Huset in Copenhagen and vibrant a crowd on the live-stream watched  Nordic Larp Talks 2011.

    Photo: Larson Kasper

    We would like to give a final big hand of applause to our fantastic speakers. Your speeches were awesome and we salute you.

    Also we are so grateful for the production team from Knudepunkt 2011; Nynne Søs Rasmussen, Anders Berner, Jens Niros, Juliane Mikkelsen, Kristoffer Thurøe, the people at Huset i Magstræde, SocialVideo Production for the live-streaming and all others who made this event possible! 

    You can watch the stream in full in the player below for now, but in the following weeks will will post the individual speaks here at the Nordic Larp Talks site complete with links and references.

    On Games: Painting Life With Rules (starts at 02:15)
    Johanna Koljonen

    Playing With Personal Development(starts at 12:00)
    Bjarke Pedersen

    Fabricating Madness(starts at 22:00)
    Peter Schønnemann Andreasen

    Role-Playing as a Teaching Method(starts at 34:55)
    Sanne Harder

    Horror and Tragedy in Nordic Role-Playing (starts at 45:55)
    Markus Montola

    Not Another Story About Boy Meets Girl(starts at 54:15)
    Tor Ketil Edland

    Can Playing Games Teach Us About War?(starts at 1:05:25)
    Eirik Fatland

    Documenting the Nordic Larp Scene(starts at 1:20:42)
    Panel: Johanna Koljonen & Jaakko Stenros

  • Nordic Larp Talks Copenhagen, 16 Feb 19.00 at Huset

    Welcome to Nordic Larp Talks Copenhagen 2011 – an evening of entertaining, thought-provoking and mind-boggling lectures about projects and ideas from the Nordic tradition of live action roleplaying games.

    The evening is hosted by writer and radio & television host Johanna Koljonen.

    Free admission.

    19.00-20.30 at Huset i Magstræde, Rådhusstræde 13, Copenhagen
    The bar is open after the event. 

    The event will be streamed live as it happens, on this page:
    http://nordiclarp.knudepunkt.org/

    Facebook event: Nordic Larp Talks Copenhagen 2011

    Press contact: Kristoffer Thurøe k@doodlers.dk +45 2980 8128

    Program

    Nordic Larp culture
    Johanna Koljonen

    Fabricating madness
    Peter Schønnemann Andreasen

    Learning through playing
    Sanne Harder Flamant

    Playing with personal development
    Bjarke Pedersen

    Why some games use our real life fears and emotions to create stories
    Markus Montola

    Not another story of boy meets girl
    Tor Kjetil Edland

    Can playing games teach us about war?
    Eirik Fatland

    Documenting the Nordic Larp Scene – the making of the Nordic Larp Book
    Panel: Jaakko Stenros & Johanna Koljonen

    Watch this space for updated information about the speakers.

    Nordic Larp Talks 2011 is organized in cooperation with Rollespilsfabrikken and Bifrost, and supported by DUF and Københavns Kommune. It is a part of the programme the week before larp conference Knudepunkt.

    About Nordic Larp Talks:

    The first Nordic Larp Talks event took place in Stockholm in 2010, in connection with Nordic larp conference Knutpunkt. All the talks can be seen on this website:

    Introduction to Nordic Larp

    Transmitting a political vision through larp

    The Quest for the Perfect Manifestation of a Dream

    Portraying Love and Trying New Genders

    Larp as Borderland Festivals

    High Resolution Larping

    Critical Strategies of Larp

  • Nordic Larp Book Talkshow

    The Nordic Larp book presents 30 outstanding larps with stories told by designers, players and researchers. It is presented with over 250 photographs and also contains two essays about the history and rhetorics of Nordic larp, and it’s current relation to theatre, art and games. We held a talkshow about the book with critic Johanna Koljonen and book producer Anna Westerling during the release parties held simultaneously in Oslo, Copenhagen, Stockholm and Helsinki.

    [youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rh6uOdHeIo4]


     The live talkshow was broadcasted on the 22nd December 2010 during the release parties of the Nordic Larp book. Host was writer and critic Johanna ‘Joc’ Koljonen.

    Guests:
    Jaakko Stenros – Book editor, Finland
    Markus Montola – Book editor, Finland
    Erlend Eidsem Hansen – Chapter author, Norway
    Bjarke Pedersen – Chapter author, Denmark
    Anna Westerling – Book producer, Sweden

    Buy your copy of the book at the webshop Fealivia.se

    And don’t miss out on the Nordic Larp blog & Knudepunkt 2011

    The show was produced by Petter Karlsson and SocialVideo Production

    What some people have said about the book:

    “Nordic Larp is a rare and vivid glimpse into a fascinating gaming tradition. If anyone knows how to imagine better worlds and build a more engaging reality, it’s larpers.”
    – Jane McGonigal, author of Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Better and How They Can Change the World

    “Now evolved far from its roots in genre consumption and modification, the progressive Nordic live roleplaying scene is building the tools for participatory performance that artists internationally will be using for generations to come. Nordic Larp is the first book to put the community’s key pieces in one easily digestible and visually seductive format.”
    – Brody Condon, Artist

    “The rise of the ars ludorum is not confined to the bombastic power fantasies of the videogame but is manifest all over the globe in diverse ways, from the doujin games of Japan to the passionate intensity of the indie games movement to the rise of the Euro-style board game. Not least among these movements is larp, brought to its apotheosis in the Nordic countries, where vast, imaginative works of enormous artistic ambition receive attention not only from game geeks but from their national cultures as well. This vital phenomenon is now accessible to English speakers through this landmark work, an anthology of articles describing some of the most impressive and compelling works of the form. Anyone seriously interested in role-play, interactive narrative, and the collision between games and theater will find it of enormous interest.”
    – Greg Costikyan, Game Designer

    We are doing a new round of Nordic Larp Talks in conjunction with the Knudepunkt 2011 conference. Read more about that here.

  • Nordic Larp Book Release LIVE!

    The Nordic Larp book is finally out and release parties will be held in
    Helsiniki, Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen.

    If you are not able to get to the parties – we invite you to a 30 minute livestreamed show, as a Nordic Larp Talks Special Event, that will give you a good intro to the book and a nifty party-feeling.

    Visit the live-page: http://nordiclarp.knudepunkt.org/

    The liveshow will air for about 30 minutes and your host for the evening is writer and critic Johanna ‘Joc’ Koljonen.

    Wednesday December 22nd 
    6:30pm – 7:00pm (UTC/GMT London) 
    7:30pm – 8:00pm (CET Copenhagen/Oslo/Stockholm)
    8:30pm – 9:00pm (EET Helsinki)

  • Get ready for Nordic Larp Talks #2, February 16th in Copenhagen

    We are preparing another round of Nordic Larp Talks, in conjunction with Nordic larp conference Knudepunkt.

    Nordic Larp Talks #2 takes place on Wednesday February 18th February 16th in Copenhagen, and Johanna Koljonen will be hosting the event.

    Mark your calendar, it will be an evening of exciting and approachable talks about Nordic larp, perfect for taking your interested non-larper friends to.

    We are planning to live stream the event like last time, so if you can’t make it to Copenhagen we still recommend you mark your calendar and tune your web browser to this page for the live broadcast of the entire event.

    More details on the venue, time and other practical matters will come soon ™.

    We are currently preparing to reach out to people we think should give Nordic Larp Talks. You can help!

    What we are looking for:

    Nordic Larp Talks are inspired by the TED talks format, where experts or people with extraordinary experiences talk about them in such a way that any interested and educated person can enjoy the topic. A Nordic Larp Talk should highlight a project or theme on the Nordic Larp scene to an audience of non-larpers.

    Do you think you should give a talk, or do you know of a person or project that should be in a Nordic Larp Talk? Please get in touch with Andie Nordgren and Petter Karlsson. 

    /The NLT #2 team: Andie Nordgren (production, web), Petter Karlsson (production, documentation), Johanna Koljonen (hosting), Nynne Søs Rasmussen (location)

  • Notes and links from Nordic Larp Talks

    The first Nordic Larp Talks event is over. Thank you to everyone who made it possible, despite volcanic disruptions, and thank you for joining at Café Klara or through the live broadcast!

    Here are some notes and links that were mentioned during the event:

    Books

    Jaakko Stenros and Markus Montola have edited two anthologies on Nordic larp. Both are available online as pdf downloads:

    Beyond Role and Play

    Playground Worlds

    They are currently working on a coffee table anthology about Nordic larps, read more about it on the project blog: nordiclarp.wordpress.com

    Nordic larp conference Knutpunkt

    The annual conference on Nordic larp, Knutpunkt, is in Sweden this year. Nordic Larp Talks was part of the programme preceding the conference.

    Knutpunkt 2010

    Educational larping conference ELIN

    Once day before the Knutpunkt conference, and still has space.

    EDU-LARP – Live Role-Playing as a Teaching Method

  • Nordic Larp Talks – April 17th, c/o Stockholms Stadsteater

    Two hours of entertaining, thought-provoking and mind-boggling lectures about the culture of the future, participatory storytelling and interactive theatre. Hosted by geek, journalist and games critic Johanna Koljonen.

    Volcano update! Nordic Larp Talks has several speakers and production people stuck in various places in Europe, but we’re still on! We have a great programme still, so come along! 

    April 17th, 16.00-18.00 at Café Klara, c/o Stockholms Stadsteater. The event is free, but you can reserve a seat here if you like! A number of seats will also be held for people without reservations, but if you want to make sure, fill out the form!

    Speakers: Jaakko Stenros, Emma Wieslander, Andie Nordgren, Peter Munthe-Kaas, Markus Montola, Johanna Koljonen, Mathias Gullbrandson, Martin Ericsson. Speaker bios.

    About

    Space monsters on Russian submarines. A mechanical dragon the size of a house. Gender-deconstructed space bedouins at the National Theatre. A decadent Hamlet in a 1930s bunker. Six weeks of adventure and every-day life in a parallel Stockholm. Asylum centres, bomb shelters, medieval villages, hippie communes, mental landscapes – worlds for the participants to experience on their own bodies.

    The Nordic countries are the best in the world when it comes to role-playing games as a story-telling medium, an art form and a pedagogical tool. In conjunction with the Knutpunkt conference, which gathers the movement’s top Nordic, European and US names to Stockholm, c/o Stadsteatern will be hosting two hours of entertaining, thought-provoking and mind-boggling lectures about the culture of the future, participatory storytelling and interactive theatre.

    From extreme emotional experiences in abstract rooms to detailed simulations of virtual worlds, from gripping societal criticism to total escapism, this Nordic movement has achieved what the games industry, institutional theatres and political communicators have only dreamed of – participatory Gesamtkunstwerk of a high artistic quality. Nordic Larp Talks is a useful and entertaining two-hour presentation of some of the movement’s most fascinating experiences and the most exciting lessons learned.

    The event is produced by games producer and social commentator Andie Nordgren and hosted by journalist and games critic Johanna Koljonen, who will also give the introductory talk. The talks are aimed at cultural producers and the general arts audience and do not require previous knowledge of game design or gamer culture. The event is in English.