Hi! I'm Sharang Biswas ( @SharangBiswas), currently Game Artist in Residence at MoMI's Education department, here for a Twitter Takeover! I'm going to talk about games, interactivity, & MoMI's contributions to the interactive landscape.

I'm a game designer, writer, & interactive artist, with an emphasis on embodied & narrative-based play: roleplaying games & interactive theatre.

For instance, @omgNickOLeary & I created The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance Larp for MoMI earlier this year.
https://sharangbiswas.myportfolio.com/the-dark-crystal-age-of-resistance-larp-at-momi

I started game stuff at @dartmouth, under @criticalplay, & continued in gad school at @ITP_NYU. While I also work on boardgames, videogames, interactive fiction, & the like, live experiences hold a special place in my heart!

(: Learn Larp LLC & Imagine Nation LLC)

Two particular features of these experiences interest me:
1) Audience participation
In some works, the fact that the participants engage with performers is key.
E.g. In KNOCK ONCE FOR YES, @omgNickOLeary & I ask audiences to take the role of mediums, talking to ghosts & clients.

The piece is incomplete without participants. Only through their interactions with the characters—their questions for the ghost, their sympathetic words to the client—can the story be unearthed.

KNOCK ONCE FOR YES premiered at @wondervillenyc.
https://sharangbiswas.myportfolio.com/knock-once-for-yes

2) Shared storytelling
In other works, participants co-create stories, perhaps with the help of a performer or facilitator.

In my game FEAST, participants at a table take on the role of alien parasites consuming the thoughts & memories of human hosts.

At a communal meal, participants use the flavours & textures of food, along with in-game prompts, to create personalities & histories of the hosts they're consuming.

Through a shared meal, participants share in the act of storytelling.

Here's FEAST at the @ICAPhiladelphia

Roleplaying—participatory, shared, & embodied stories—allow audiences to experience narrative & emotion in ways other media cannot offer.

Here's an example: how live-action roleplay can help build queer community.
http://www.firstpersonscholar.com/queer-larp-community/

I'm excited to work with MoMI on similar projects! The museum has a history of working with games, from the HOT CIRCUITS retrospective in the '80s to the videogame collection on display.

Check out GAME PLAY, a new series of roleplaying games at MoMI https://bit.ly/GamePlayMoMI 

Subtitled "Between Fantasy & Realism", I'm showcasing a variety of roleplaying games that touch on very different themes, tones, & emotional resonances. From high fantasy to teen drama, from humor to angst, I'm trying to show the range of stories that roleplaying games can tell.

This SUN (12/13), I'm running @MaxGamesSeidman & my BASIC PRINCIPLES OF INCANTATION. Participants take on the role of Victorian students in an introductory course on magic, using real-world Linguistics to solve puzzles & cast spells. https://bit.ly/3m3oq9Z 

"Great immersive work has a way of staying with you. I have thought back to this short class many times over the last few weeks, often times when I am preparing to teach my own students. This experience has had a magical experience on me." – @NoProscenium https://noproscenium.com/getting-all-magicked-up-in-basic-principles-of-incantation-review-f2e4e9e6755d

Thanks for coming with me on this little foray into the world of games!

If you're interested in my work, check out my website below—and of course, check out the ongoing #GamePlayMoMI series which has three sessions left! ( https://bit.ly/GamePlayMoMI ) https://sharangbiswas.myportfolio.com/