Are We Having Fun Yet?
Earlier this month, Disegno hosted Are We Having Fun Yet?, a panel talk and games night devoted to exploring the significance of video games to other design fields.
Co-hosted with Flokk, IIyama and Posturite, companies that produce highly designed ergonomic furniture and screens suited to home gaming, the evening began with a panel talk featuring architectural designer Rhiarna Dhaliwal from Xcessive Aesthetics; curator Marie Foulston, co-curator of Videogames: Design / Play /Disrupt at the V&A; and writer Alex Wiltshire from Mojang; chaired by Disegno’s editor-in-chief, Oli Stratford.
The panel shared reflections around gaming’s capacity to create spaces for new structures, systems and interactions; the significance of facilitating opportunities for fun and play in society; and the sheer variety of experiences and ideas catered for within contemporary gaming.
Following the talk, the night gave way to an evening of gaming, with games selected by the panel, playable on gaming stations provided by Stone.
Rhiarna Dhaliwal selected Superliminal, a game in which players solve spatial puzzles by making use of tricks of perspective that become real within the world of the game.
Marie Foulston picked Flock, a game that invites cooperative play as gamers drift through a world on the back of fantastical birds, finding creatures to care for along the way.
Alex Wiltshire chose Cocoon, whose puzzles allow players to leap between worlds within worlds, exploiting their connected spatial relationships to solve puzzles.
Also available for players were games that feature high-detail architecture, including Elden Ring and Cyberpunk 2077, along with an assortment of party games on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 5, provided by Joypad.
Thank you to all our guests for making the night such a special evening, as well as the teams at Flokk, IIyama and Posturite for their kind support of the night!
Are We Having Fun Yet? took place at Flokk (31 Great Sutton St, London, EC1V 0NA) on Thursday 7 November 2024.
Photographs Albert Palen