World of ArtCraft
TEAM: Aris Kafantaris, Greek, The University of Tokyo
Volume 1: Cedric’s Revenge
In 1964, architect Cedric Price almost succeeded in creating the now fabled Fun Palace: a flexible urban scaffold, where users would grow and learn through media, performance and interaction. Fast-forward a few decades and the platform that Price imagined already exists – our mobile devices piling layers upon layers of content on urban space, injecting it with new narratives.
World of ArtCraft is “Pokemon Go for Museums”. It overlays (through Augmented-Reality) a Massively Multiplayer Online RPG game on real city maps, including all the usual features, like quests, monster hunting, and treasure looting. There is a twist, however: all equipment must be obtained through interaction with an actual artifact, in the museum where it is housed.
Do you need that enchanted +3 sword of fire? Well, it is represented by a Mycenaean bronze dagger from 1400BC and you’ll have to pay a visit to the Archaeological museum of Corinth; now slay a Sphinx or two and solve a quiz about Agamemnon.
WoA links the museums of the world into a continuous narrative platform of mix and match adventuring. Players, notoriously knowledgeable in the most obscure game-mechanics and lore, will funnel their creative mania into engaging with real art and history.