Sunday Game Night FAQs

[Note: Last names have been redacted from the original emails]

From: Nathan
To: Game Friends

Game Friends,

Here are the answers to some frequently asked questions about Game Night.

Q: So what’s the deal with Game Night?
A: Game Night is an ongoing creative writing project in which I compose a weekly email to a small group of friends, advertising a putative gathering called a “game night” at which we would get together and “play board games”. The emails don’t follow any particular structure, although each one contains the same particulars.

Q: Particulars?
A: Time and place. Details. I always schedule the “game night” for Sunday at 5pm in my apartment, and announce that I will make food for my guests. I also include a request for my guests to bring food or beverages to share with the group, and I ask them to RSVP. It’s all part of the fiction, of course.

Q: Wait, so there’s no actual event?
A: Well, look. Part of my process is that I have to be ready to go through with the “game night”. At 5pm on Sunday, I’m in my apartment, I’ve got some food on, and I’m ready to “play board games”. I’m in character.

Q: And that includes this Sunday?
A: Of course.

Q: What do you do if someone shows up?
A: We chat, we eat some food, and then we “play board games”. But can you imagine how fun it would be if “board games” were a real thing? If we weren’t just staring silently at an empty table for two hours?

Nathan

From: Lauren
To: Game Friends

Mr. B       ,

We’re intrigued by your proposal, and happy to read that you are in the active, iterative mode of performance already, i.e., that this is not just a proposal but already an integrated part of your arts practice. Before we can move forward, we have a few more questions. We understand that the reflexive interview format was carefully chosen, and that this set of banal yet vulnerable questions and answers was intentional– however, we do need to dig a little deeper into your conceptualization before we can commit our resources. Please respond at your earliest convenience.

1. Are the “guests” performers/in a performance mode as well? Are they co-performers or spectators? Does the meaning of the piece require the other “players” to be in on the joke or to be excluded?
2. If no viewers attend, do you still play games? If not, does that erase the predictive aura of the writing portion of the piece?
3. The piece as proposed involves games within games, i.e., the “found game” (e.g. Carcassonne) and the “constructed game” (the art experience). Do you intend to invest fully in the recursive nature of the proposal, or is it merely a happy accident?
4. Within the larger American culture of entertainment replacing news, how do you ensure that an art piece about scheduled “game nights” remains subversive rather than contributing to our mass complacency? How do you balance your commitment to your regular-guy persona against the need to make a social commentary?

Best,

Lauren B       
Co-Director, AAWYA

From: Kaitlin
To: Game Friends

I will only partially be in attendance due to an unrelated but simultaneous artistic process occurring from 6:00-8:30. However, to ensure that my presence is symbolically represented throughout the evening, I will be making chili that will fuel the “game night,” fulfilling the traditional role of wife/hostess but also subverting this role by leaving and pursuing my own career/processes, the results of which can be seen next weekend here.

Some of this chili will be vegan.

From: Kyle
To: Game Friends

I will be attending “game night” at 5pm Sunday. I think you will find my C.V. includes a large body of performance in works of similar mode and tone. My character will arrive with ceremonial offerings of “snack” and “drink”.