States of Play: Roleplay Reality at FACT

States of Play : Roleplay Reality at FACT, City Centre, 22 March–17 June 2018, free entry - Visit now

FACT’s first major exhibition of 2018 explores the world of gaming, of creating virtual worlds and the avatars living in them. Featuring work by artists, independent and industry producers and platforms, Roleplay Reality at FACT delves into gaming’s $230 billion economy, exploring how we create online identities (and how they differ from our own), game development and the lack of representation, gender and race roles in gaming. The exhibition wants visitors to ask, ‘Who is in control of this virtual world I’m in, and how is it affecting the real world I live in?’

The works and games curated all reflect the function of roleplay in gaming, the creation of an avatar, and how that spills from the virtual world in the the physical world running parallel to it. Roleplaying allows us to assume a new identity. Yet this also raises questions about who is creating the online world, and how their perceptions, experiences and politics might affect the virtual world we explore.