Nordic Larp Talks is a series of short, entertaining, thought-provoking and mind-boggling lectures about projects, ideas and design practice from the Nordic and collaborative traditions of live action roleplaying.
How do we design a game that makes complex and subconcious patriarchal structures visible without making it loud, aggressive and in everyone’s face? In this talk, Eva Wei will guide you through the design choices that were made to create the larp Sigridsdotter, a game about everyday life in a modern matriarchy.
Eva Wei (LL. M) is a Swedish larpwright, IP-lawyer and lecturer. She is mostly known for her close-knitted larps about current subjects and her work for intersectional equality. She has designed and organised several larps, and chaired many non-profit organisations and has a great interest in project management. Currently, Eva is one of the mane organisers of Knutpunkt 2018 and works as a lawyer for the Swedish School’s Inspectorate. She is also a dedicated historical fencer and instructor and is in the board of the Swedish HEMA federation.
Jamie MacDonald is a stand-up comedian, writer, and player of many larps, who has written frequently on the subject of performativity and performance in larp. Usually stand-up comedians don’t use words like performativity, so it’s worth mentioning that he’s also a performance and theatre artist, and has also recently lectured in Art Larp at SADA in Stockholm. He’s been coming to KP/SK since 2009 and is the co-creator of the Walkabout series of performance games, as well as The Lovers’ Matchmaking Agency.
The story of a small village marriage on a desert planet was the canvas for an exploration of how to portray gender, relationships and sexuality in roleplaying games. While fighting uses large and bold gestures, love is a glance across the room. Emma Wieslander explains how the game Mellan Himmel och Hav (Between Heaven and Sea) had the ambition to let people out of stereotypes they might not even be aware of.
Emma Wieslander works with development of organizational management and leadership in social economy and non-profit organizations. Much of these theories has evolved from her years as a chair person of Sverok, the Swedish organization for role-playing, LARP, computer-gaming etc. She was the conceptual designer of the multi art production Mellan himmel och Hav (Between heaven and sea) that combined roleplay with light art and modern art music at Swedens national theater. The game was highly political and deconstructed the idea of gender as we know it. She is currently working on a new political vision focusing on environment issues among other things.gen
Further reading
The 2004 Solmukohta anthology Beyond Role and Play has 3 articles concerning the game:
Positive Power Drama: A Theoretical and Practical Approach on Emotive Larping by Emma Wieslander. Download article pdf
Infinite Possibilities: Mellan Himmel och Hav From a Science Fiction Point of View by Karin Tidbeck, in the 2004 Solmukohta anthology Beyond Role and Play. Download arcticle pdf
