The Wild Man Game (2014)

The Wild Man Game was a mobile phone -based game that encouraged visitors to play in Belsay Hall a historic house in Northumberland, UK. Rather than use a mobile phone as an information guide, visitors were invited to undertake a series of playful tasks not typically associated with heritage sites and to pay more attention to the space itself through the phone. Tasks were all connected with the Wild Man, a folklore figure associated with the site, and encouraged visitors to discover their wildness through creeping quietly through the hall, mimicking animal sounds, being still, and making their wild mark. Mobile phone sensors and Bluetooth low energy beacons were used to place tasks within the hall and evaluate their completion such as detecting noises whilst creeping, matching animal sounds, and monitoring movement.

I supported the collaboration that produced this artwork, which included Gavin Wood, staff and volunteers at Belsay Hall, Kevin Booth - Senior Collections Curator (North) for English Heritage, and Professor Matthew Grenby at Newcastle University. I co-designed the Wild Man game with Gavin Wood who completed all software development and hardware integration whilst I devised tasks and narratives and produced visual assets for the game.