H O G M A N A Y i a l 2 0 1 1 T h e E s s e n t
G u i d e
Two tribes
Hogmanay revellers will be out in the streets on New Year’s Day competing in some cleverly designed games. It’s all in the name of fun though, as Laura Ennor finds out
A s a man named Holly once sang, ‘when two tribes go to war, a point is all that you can score.’ All-out war may not be the desired effect in Edinburgh city centre this New Year’s Day, but a brand new public games event organised as part of the Hogmanay celebrations will have people nailing their colours to the mast of either the Uppies (those who consider themselves of the North in some way) or the Doonies (southern pansies, in this writer’s entirely unpartisan opinion) and getting competitive in a series of innovative games.
capital’s
The team names are a nod
to traditional New Year football games, where residents of the top and bottom of a town compete on the first day of the year in an anarchic, sprawling match that can take in streets, squares and very often icy cold bodies of water. There’s less ritual dunking and more re- acquaintance with one’s inner child in this Edinburgh version however. The games are interactive, brain-teasing conundrums and competitive challenges created by London game design studio and ‘public play specialists’ Hide & Seek. Any points gathered by
during the
individuals afternoon’s capers are added to the total of their chosen team. At the centre of the action will be the Grassmarket, where players will hear updates on team progress, and will be able to play giant checkers, jenga and ‘helter skelter bingo’ the activities of playing bingo and sliding down a helter skelter combined into one excruciatingly fun experience). (imagine
At four venues around the old town are four further games, each developed with Scottish-based artists – selected, as Hide & Seek founder Alex Fleetwood explains, for having ‘an interest in games as a cultural form.’ So it is that so- much-more-than-a-pop-band 16 THE LIST 15 Dec 2011–5 Jan 2012
Previous Hide & Seek games including Grandmother’s Footsteps (top).
FOUND are behind a paper aeroplane-crafting event at the Hub. Game players will be making and chucking the planes, which will trigger elements of sound to be played by what FOUND-er Tommy Perman is cagily referring to as ‘invisible musicians’. ‘It’s intentionally vague,’ he says, ‘because we want people to come along and have to work out the mechanics of the game a little bit for themselves. But it does involve a lot of FOUND’s music and it should be very visually striking.’
FOUND’s game, while simple to play, involves a lot of complex technology behind the scenes. The band are, after all, also the creators of BAFTA-winning Cybraphon – a robot one-man- band with emotions that it the
voices over Twitter.
playground The other games, though easy to play, are similarly smart. Composer Pippa Murphy will set up a labyrinthine, musical take on the game Grandmother’s Footsteps at St Giles’ Cathedral, while self- declared nonsensemonger and installation artist spotov will be running a live-action battleships/Knightmare hybrid at the National Museum of Scotland. But, as Fleetwood explains, ‘it’s there as an aid to a fun experience that’s happening in the real world, rather than as an end in itself. It’s about getting people to be creative and playful and have fun with
one another.’ And for all the gentle rivalry playing to people’s regional allegiances, it’s fun that’s the main aim of the day. ‘I really hope that it extends the convivial spirit of Hogmanay,’ says Fleetwood, making clear that watchers as well as players are more than welcome: ‘we wanted to make a great spectacle as well as something really fun to get involved with and play.’
edinburghshogmanay.org