I'm coming down from my Knudepunkt cloud. For you muggles, it's an amazing international (Scandinavian run) larp convention, and it was my first time there and it was amazing. Three day program, 31 countries, 580 participants.
I probably knew about 80 of the people there when I first arrived, I'm not new to larping, I just never went because - what's the big deal, right? Who knows why I think the silly things I do.
Anyway, I'm too full of impressions to write a narrative about the experience, so I'm just going to note a few scattered thoughts.
First of all. Polish vodka is great, it really is. The past 7/8 months I've been working on College of Wizardry with an organizer team consisting mostly of Poles. Until this weekend I'd met them once or less, communicating via Facebook, dropbox, e-mails and whatnot. It was wonderful actually meeting them. I now have two Polish names, I remember neither because of the vodka.
Update: Frania, one of them is Frania.
The Norwegian ritual. I've joined a cult. I don't mind.
None of the Fins carried knives for the onion I'd carried in my bag for days. The Russians did. This all makes perfect sense.
Vegetable Delight: one part gin, two parts lemon soda, tea spoon of tomato juice (if no real tomatoes can be found), and ice. Garnish with a slice of lime, a stick of celery, two slices of cucumber and rather a lot of onion.
I thought I knew what immersion is. I didn't. No one does. It has now become part of my academic vocabulary like discourse and post colonial. The same goes for Nordic Larp.
Immersion is what happens when you trick yourself into believing that you are not only yourself but also someone else, it is usually approached as a state of mind, but it might actually be closely connected to the body. Mind and body unity. Larpers are very physical thinkers.
The recipe for the drink The Nordic Larper's dream: Whatever liquid you can get your hands on + tears. Preferably your own but someone else's will do, too.
Space is important. It defines how we move, who we meet on our way, how close we stand together and how much money we have to pay for the location. It also makes people KRÆNKT if they have trouble moving about or there aren't enough bathrooms or they are cold all the time. Unless it's a nordic larp and they wan't to feel bad.
Larp can be political, educational and still "fun" (that is kind of the point). A rather large amount of people manage to make a living out of it. Some of these people change the world for kids in war zones, make children dream of becoming astronouts or summon nazi zombies from the polluted parts of the ocean.
I disagree with a lot of larp theory. Which is (suprisingly?) more empowering than the instant 'I know this already but someone else gave it words' feeling. Disagreeing can really light up my, in this instance feverish, brain. For example I don't think we generally roleplay to escape our lives as one point stated, I think we do it to add to them. I think of larp as a playing to learn, as something essentially joyful.
Castles are the future. So are black boxes of all sizes. Play can come in many shapes, it can be carried out in every perfect little detail, it can be experimental, musical, blind.
Trust can replace rules.
More. The general feeling of openness, the easy conversations, the way I spent the entire convention walking from one hug into the next. The dancing, the flowing, the cuddle puddle, all the women suddenly turning up with rather realistic looking beards. The really bad jokes.
Next year it'll be on a boat. I'm getting on that boat.
I probably knew about 80 of the people there when I first arrived, I'm not new to larping, I just never went because - what's the big deal, right? Who knows why I think the silly things I do.
Anyway, I'm too full of impressions to write a narrative about the experience, so I'm just going to note a few scattered thoughts.
First of all. Polish vodka is great, it really is. The past 7/8 months I've been working on College of Wizardry with an organizer team consisting mostly of Poles. Until this weekend I'd met them once or less, communicating via Facebook, dropbox, e-mails and whatnot. It was wonderful actually meeting them. I now have two Polish names, I remember neither because of the vodka.
Update: Frania, one of them is Frania.
The Norwegian ritual. I've joined a cult. I don't mind.
None of the Fins carried knives for the onion I'd carried in my bag for days. The Russians did. This all makes perfect sense.
Vegetable Delight: one part gin, two parts lemon soda, tea spoon of tomato juice (if no real tomatoes can be found), and ice. Garnish with a slice of lime, a stick of celery, two slices of cucumber and rather a lot of onion.
I thought I knew what immersion is. I didn't. No one does. It has now become part of my academic vocabulary like discourse and post colonial. The same goes for Nordic Larp.
Immersion is what happens when you trick yourself into believing that you are not only yourself but also someone else, it is usually approached as a state of mind, but it might actually be closely connected to the body. Mind and body unity. Larpers are very physical thinkers.
The recipe for the drink The Nordic Larper's dream: Whatever liquid you can get your hands on + tears. Preferably your own but someone else's will do, too.
Space is important. It defines how we move, who we meet on our way, how close we stand together and how much money we have to pay for the location. It also makes people KRÆNKT if they have trouble moving about or there aren't enough bathrooms or they are cold all the time. Unless it's a nordic larp and they wan't to feel bad.
Larp can be political, educational and still "fun" (that is kind of the point). A rather large amount of people manage to make a living out of it. Some of these people change the world for kids in war zones, make children dream of becoming astronouts or summon nazi zombies from the polluted parts of the ocean.
I disagree with a lot of larp theory. Which is (suprisingly?) more empowering than the instant 'I know this already but someone else gave it words' feeling. Disagreeing can really light up my, in this instance feverish, brain. For example I don't think we generally roleplay to escape our lives as one point stated, I think we do it to add to them. I think of larp as a playing to learn, as something essentially joyful.
Castles are the future. So are black boxes of all sizes. Play can come in many shapes, it can be carried out in every perfect little detail, it can be experimental, musical, blind.
Trust can replace rules.
More. The general feeling of openness, the easy conversations, the way I spent the entire convention walking from one hug into the next. The dancing, the flowing, the cuddle puddle, all the women suddenly turning up with rather realistic looking beards. The really bad jokes.
Next year it'll be on a boat. I'm getting on that boat.