PLAYTOPIA MGA 2019 Preview: Nicole He USA | The Lost Botanist SA | Holy Funk SA

All images: ByJono

PLAYTOPIA and MAKE GAMES AFRICA (MGA) have joined forces to create one ecstatic 3-day event where Gamers, developers and event-goers can revel in local and international indie games, eye-melting interactive and digital art and a killer music line up! Delegate and festival ticket holders can look forward to exhibitions by some of South Africa’s top interactive artists, 30+ alternative games, a Super Friendship Arcade room with games played on custom controllers as well as VR rooms.

Each week leading up to Playtopia MGA 2019 we’ll introduce and acquaint you with some of the phenomenally talented speakers, artists and musicians who will make up this year’s festival. Last week we took a closer look at American game designer, scholar, and entrepreneur, Mitu Khandaker as well as an indie game developer and creator of ‘The Wobble Garden’, Robin Baumgarten from Germany and South African musician and performance artist Thor Rixon. Read more about them right here.

This week we introduce you to Brooklyn based programmer, artist and game developer Nicole He (USA), the South African collaboration behind the award-winning ‘Lost Botanist’ experience, Tulips and Chimneys and Eden Labs as well as the funkadelic dj duo Holy Funk.

Nicole He [USA] SPEAKER

Nicole He is a programmer, artist, and game developer based in Brooklyn, New York. Her recent work is focused on unusual uses of voice technology. She has worked as a creative technologist at Google Creative Lab, an outreach lead at Kickstarter, and an adjunct faculty member at ITP at NYU, where she received her Master’s degree. She’s working on an upcoming sci-fi, the narrative voice-controlled game produced by the National Film Board of Canada.

Title: Your Mouth Is The Controller

This is a talk about the trials and tribulations of voice technology in creative work, from the history of videogames using speech recognition to modern-day AI voice assistants, and making weird experiences around talking to computers.

Catch Nicole He’s talk at Playtopia MGA 2019 and purchase your delegate ticket right here.

Tulips and Chimneys & Eden Labs [SA] INSTALLATION ARTISTS

Tulips and Chimneys is a Cape Town-based creative studio specializing in concept development and creating visuals for films, digital and print media while Eden Labs is a technology R&D studio focusing on emerging technologies based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Together the two creative collectives will be exhibiting their 2019 Annecy Official VR Selection and award-nominated experience; The Lost Botanist. Merging virtual and the real worlds, the experience will be exhibited as a sculptural installation depicting the realm of the Undergarden.

Catch Tulips and Chimneys & Eden Labs’ ‘The Lost Botanist’ at Playtopia MGA 2019 and purchase your festival ticket right here.

Holy Funk [SA] MUSICIANS

DJ duo Holy Funk are the self-proclaimed “Cheech and Chong of funk.” Sabina and Chelsea will be supplying Playtopia MGA attendees with their signature brand of “funkadelic cheese trash” straight outta James Brown’s closet! Get ready to boogie with these soul sisters this December at the Castle.

Catch the DJ duo ‘Holy Funk‘ at Playtopia MGA 2019, book your festival and delegate ticket right here.