Games for Places was a month-long series of installations across East Durham by artist Holly Gramazio. There were six different locations, each with four or five games that would only work there, rules painted on the ground for people to stumble across and play.

Holly worked on the project with theatre designer Hannah Sibai, who led on the design and physical installation.

The project was about play, aimed at creating new real-world games for East Durham that draw on the area and the things that are special or strange or exciting about it.

The project ran in autumn, and alongside the games we made small interventions to the environment to make the spaces more playable: autumn leaves on the ground in the parks, arrows painted on paving stones near a community centre, lily pads near a waterlily pond.

The Artist 

Holly is a game designer, curator and writer, originally from Adelaide and currently based in London. She is interested in games that invite people to make something creative while they play, or that get players looking at their environment in new ways 

“The project’s been a great chance to explore East Durham – nothing helps you get to know a place as quickly as playing games there. If you just go to a park and wander around for a bit, it’s easy to just think of it as – you know – just a park. But if you’re there to make games up and try them out, you notice everything – the signs, the shape of the benches, the pattern of the pathways, the views from different places, the noise it makes when you clap in one place compared to another place, how high the swings go”  Holly Gramazio

Games for Places was commissioned by East Durham Creates. Produced by Forma Arts.

The project was supported by Durham County Council via East Durham Area Action Partnership and funded by Arts Council England.