ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an interview with Nick Tandavanitj, a member of the artist group Blast Theory. In the interview, Tandavanitj provides a framework for creating game/art works that produce hybrid play experiences for audiences. This framework includes developing works that have permeable boundaries, are pervasive, and allow a sense of presence/liveness. To demonstrate this, Tandavanitj describes the process of creating some of Blast Theory’s most prominent works, such as Kidnap (1998), Can You See Me Now (2001), and Operation Black Antler (2016). He additionally reflects on the design choices that Blast Theory has to make, so that their work will achieve its goal of prompting critical reflection about social and cultural issues. For instance, Blast Theory has to determine the audience’s role in a work, whether to permit or limit emergent behavior, and how to engage audiences. By discussing hybrid play as a designed experience, this interview suggests that hybridity is not a stable phenomenon but rather an ongoing process enabled by the artist, audiences, and multiple enfolded contexts.
