A joystick is a navigation device. A selection device. An orientation device. A pleasure device.
Madison Bycroft's “Joystick” play environment is an invitation to unlearn everything we know about finding our way. With patience and curiosity and no goals, wander through a fantastic flooded world made of collages. In Joystick, orientation and intentions are not static, they change depending on our location, the weather, sea level and other environmental factors in the game.

You may encounter one of the seven bosses that populate the islands. Each of them sings a song about their location (Up, Down, Beside, In Front, Behind, Elsewhere and In Between).

In this work, the player/viewer uses a custom game-controller that has two joysticks and one button. 

Joystick is a participatory multi-channel project, created during 2021 - 2024, initially in collaboration with Ubisoft, and Carreau Du Temple.

BIO
Madison Bycroft (they/them), born in 1987 in Tarntanya (Adelaide, Australia), lives and works in Marseille, France and is the tutor of the group FKA Critical Practices at Artez, in Arnhem. Bycroft is a graduate of the University of South Australia (2013), the MFA program at the Piet Zwart Institute in Rotterdam (2016), and is currently a fellow at the Villa Medici in Rome.

Working with video, sculpture, and performance, Madison Bycroft’s current interests extend into forms of reading and writing, expression, and refusal. The politics of illegibility and legibility are explored through language and material, asking how ‘sense’ is framed by historical contexts, biases, and structures of power.

Bycroft is interested in how we might re-imagine “reading” (in its expanded sense) and understanding, not as goal-oriented towards accomplishment, but as a relationship that hovers and makes space - opaque, errant, fractured, and floating.


Joystick is part of Sickhouse's year research “Radical-Joy-Resistance” exploring the role of play within activism and the power of joy, pleasure, humour in movement of resistance. The results of this research will be presented at The Overkill Festival from 20 to 24 November. (



DATES : 28-09 to 24-11
Opening 28-09, 15:00
LOCATION : Concordia Langestraat 56
ACCESS : Free

Joystick

The second edition of Kamping Kitbash is a collaboration between Nerlab (Gent) and Sickhouse (Enschede) dedicated to bring people together through TableTop activities. Our goal is to unite enthusiasts worldwide, infusing the hobby with a fresh artistic spirit and fostering collaboration to create a vibrant and diverse community. 🌍

We have been funded by Erasmus+ to organize 

kitbashing, miniature making, RPGs, and tabletop games,

 with a special emphasis on indie games and supporting grassroots initiatives. 🎮🤝

1st weekend: 13-15 of September 2024, Gent, Belgium

2nd weekend: 1-3 of November 2024, Enschede, The Netherlands

 is the practice of making scale models out of pieces from other kits to assemble a model of your own creation or in a different way than indicated by the model’s instructions. You’re kitbashing if you are ‘bashing’ the different kits together. We embrace the spirit of kitbashing in everything we do. We don't follow manuals; we co-create and experiment, merging ideas and people to create something truly unique.

By and for miniature-obsessed creatives, nerdy artists and imaginative role players. 

Are you looking for creatives who share your passion for the hobby? Do you want to push the boundaries of what art in miniature can be? 🖌️ Are you excited to spend a whole weekend experimenting, playing and talking about your favorite TableTop element? Or have you been looking for the most insanely fun way of getting into the TableTop world? Join us at one of our events!

We want to connect the web of creatives and hobbyists to exchange knowledge and enable artistic cross-pollination. 🐝

Furthermore, we want to dig deeper into the possibilities of what gaming and art can do and mean for us as people. 🎲 We want to ask interesting questions and create around the themes of identity to find a more powerful way of expressing ourselves collaboratively.

💡We can learn from everyone and anyone has something to teach. Kamping Kitbash is an open and inviting space where you’ll be challenged to reconsider notions of identity and cooperatively express yourself. We strive to build a diverse community that is not afraid to experiment and share knowledge. We also want to make the funniest, grossest little goblins 👹

1st weekend: 13-15 of September 2024, Ghent, Belgium

for people from Enschede (attention: the registration link on their website is already full)

2nd weekend: 1-3 of November 2024, Enschede, Netherlands

Registration link and program coming soon.

Kamping Kitbash #1 Gent

Find the complete info and program on the website of the festival :


KO(O)RTS is a short film festival that shows a wide variety of underground, experimental & art house films, and that aims to provide a platform for (emerging) filmmakers to showcase their work, celebrate creativity and connect communities through short films. 

With more than 70 films, curated in 10 blocks over the weekend. From Wicked society, to Beautiful People, the selection brings filmmakers professionals and amateurs from all over the world. You'll see movies that you can find nowhere else, with lightness, humour, engagement and drama. 

The festival gives young filmmakers the opportunity to show new films and get in touch with other professionals of filmmaking. At the same time, we offer the public an alternative fun filmprogram.

KO(O)RTS is also the day we Premiere "Detached" the new film created during the Film Camp! Come celebrate young local talents and discover their collective project!

Next to the screenings, the festival hosts workshops, meetups and playful installations, in this way, we strive to create a vibrant event that brings together both filmmakers and film lovers and celebrates the art of short films.

KO(O)RTS will take place at there locations: Concordia, Theatermakerij and the Vestzaktheater.