November 20th, 2020
Playing is very important in the artistic and creative process. For actors and musicians it is simply what they do. They play music or play theater.
But visual artists also often come to their result in a playful manner. Playing is searching, communicating, reacting...
This assignment was simple: students had to come up with a game in which they started from the photographic codes and visual language.
- Create an image based on self-found rules of the game.
- Describe the rules clearly in a separate text file.

Some games are disarmingly simple (like the example of John Baldessari) others are complex and sophisticated.

In the theater, reference is sometimes made to 'pleasure in playing' which means that the engagement and pleasure that the actor has in playing can be felt by the audience and leads to added value.
Students had to make sure that the play they were playing was less non-committal than it seems; that there was an obsession in the (perhaps pointless) act of playing.

The students were divided into pairs and were asked to play their own game as well as their partner's game.

We looked at the work of John Baldessari, Fischli & Weiss, Erwin Wurm, John Stezaker, William Wegman, Jan Dibbets, Bernard Voïta, Petros Efstathiadis, Cindy Sherman, surrealism, John Divola, Fluxus, Robert Longo, Marla Rutherford, Sven 't Jolle, Zeke Berman, Hans Eijkelboom, Kensuke Koike, Jesse Draxler, Etienne-Jules Marey, Joanna Piotrowska, Toilet Paper Magazine, Jonas Bendiksen, Kansuke Koike, Tony Luciani, Veronika Breuer's nephew, Gilbert & George, Francesca Woodman, Gordon Matta-Clark, Jurgen Maelfeyt, Joel Meyerowitz, Mathieu Pernot, Florence Henri, Fabian Schubert and Hank Schmidt, Valentine Chenaille, Zhuang Hui, Saul Steinberg and Inge Morath, Harriet Moutsopoulos, Ed Ruscha, Paul Graham, Csilla Klenyanszki, Moira McDonald, Kiki Smith, Osamu Yokonami, Pau Buscato, Andrew Wright.

A Lucia Fernandez

Create or destroy a portrait
Rules
- Do not take a new photograph
- Use collage and photo editing in a new and inventive way, go crazy!
- Look at the work of Kensuke Koike, John Stezaker, Jesse Draxler

Veronika's assignment for Ana Lucia:
When children organise something it looks like a chaos, but they have their own system and rules they are following. Somehow it seems logical to them for example to make a pattern out of objects instead of pushing them together the best way they fit. Give your objects a new form, place or usage in your home by forgetting the original ‘job’ of an object.

Alexia De Splenter

Hide and seek
The rules
-Make a portrait (yourself or a model).
-You should not be recognizable in the photo.
-Photoshop is not allowed.

Theo's assignement for Alexia:
Rules:
I. The photographer’s body must be part of the photograph.
II. The photograph must be taken with a shutter speed of a second or slower.
III. The final image must be a negative of the photograph.

Amber Van der Borght

PLAY (with food)
Eat things the wrong way, try to make it look as uncomfortable as possible.

Sarah V's assignment for Amber:
Take an object from – or part of – your house and place it in a diffent context.

Anke Defossé

1) Collecting objects
• Find an object that is precious to you. It needs to be something that has an emotional value.
• Find an object that gives you a bad feeling. For instance: an object that makes you think of a bad memory, an object that triggers you, something disgusting etc. (it can be symbolic)
• Find an object that is neutral. Look around in your home and pick something that you don’t feel anything for.
2) Make an installation/ still life with the three collected objects
3) Take a picture

Sarah S's assignment for Anke:
`HOME JENGA`
JENGA MEANS `TO BUILD`IN SWAHILI. FOR THIS GAME I WANT YOU TO MAKE A STRAIGHT-ON STILL-LIFE PHOTOGRAPH THAT SHOWS `HOME JENGA` . THIS MEANS THAT THE PHOTO SHOULD SHOW A PILE OF OBJECTS TAKEN FROM YOUR APARTMENT, THE FRAME SHOULD BE FROM FLOOR TO CEILING AND THE PILE OF OBJECTS SHOULD GO FROM THE FLOOR TO THE CEILING.
THE RULES:
1) TAKE VARIOUS OBJECTS FROM YOUR HOME AND PILE THEM ON TOP OF EACH OTHER, JUST LIKE YOU WOULD DO IN JENGA, EACH OBJECT HELPS THE OTHER TO BALANCE
2) NO TOOLS CAN BE USED TO HELP SECURE THE OBJECTS, IT IS ALL ABOUT BALANCE
3) YOU CAN USE A BIGGER ITEM FOR THE BASE IF IT HELPS; BUT THINK ABOUT ITEMS THAT GIVE THE MOST HEIGHT E:G CHAIRS
4) EACH TIME AN ITEM IS ADDED, MAKE A STRAIGHT-ON PHOTOGRAPH OF YOUR HOME JENGA PROCESS
5) THE RESULTS SHOULD BE ONE IMAGE THE END OF HOME JENG
* You can use flash, but definitely use a tripod and once the position is good and the Jenga begins then refrain from moving the camera. Photos can be in black and white or in colour
* Keep a chair handy to use to climb on, to be able to reach the ceiling
* This can be a team game!
* Avoid using fragile objects that colour break incase they fall
* Think about utensils in your kitchen, appliances in your bathroom, bedding, pillows, furniture, food, it can be anything! :)

Aron Viszlo

Find an image in Google street view, which (subjectively) best represents your country.

Sarah K's assignment for Aron:
Metal Puzzle
Create a believable image by blending two images together. This can be done by creating a double exposure or by overlaying two images in post.
Rules:
- The composition needs to be created in camera and is not allowed to be changed in postproduction. (no moving things around, no transforming or resizing etc.)

Bas Verrept

Collage
Follow a person, make different photographs of this person, afterwards reconstruct this person in a collage.

Robert's assignment for Bas:
Take a photograph using an object in an inconvenient way.

Brent Decraene

Falling in the frame
Preparations to play this game:
- Search for a good wall as background.
- Set up the camera preferably on a tripod.
- Set the correct settings for your camera.
- Gather your objects.
The game itself:
- When the shutter goes off drop the objects.
- Try to get every object in your frame.
- Do this again, until you get a good picture.
- Do it with other objects or combinations.
- Enjoy.
Extra points:
- Use something red.
- See yourself in the frame.
- For getting more then 10 objects in the frame.
Presentation:
- 1 image with 3 different drops in it. No spaces between the images.

Puck's assignment for Brent:
RGB
Preparations:
- Find objects that are red, green and blue
- Find something to place the objects on (table, floor, wall…)
- Set up lights
- Set up correct camera settings

Rules:
- Create a photo with only red, green and blue objects
- There can be no other colours, not even black or white
- Make the colours vibrant
- Make interesting compositions
- You have two options
        a. Create one photo with all three colours (at least 3 different objects: one red, one green, one blue)
        b. Create three photos, one colour per photo (use at least 2 different objects per photo)
- Not allowed to change colours after you take the photo (= you can’t make a purple object red using Photoshop)

Presentation:
a. No borders, longest side 1000px
b. 1 imagine with the three photos next to each other, no spaces in between, no borders, longest side 1000px

Bruce Bomfim

The Game is simple:
- You have to make a still life using only one of your hands.
- You have to hold with your hand a minimum of 5 different objects
- All the objects must be hold by the hand. You can hold, hang, wrap ,use your fingers as a hook, place objects between your fingers, whatever, as long as the objects are hold by you (your hand)
- All the objects must be visible.
- Create a nice composition with these objects.
- You can take the picture with the other arm or set the camera on a tripod or whatever you need or can do to take the picture.
- The idea is to make a nice “still life” having your hand as the only space to create a nice composition
- The image can be in colour or black and white
You cannot:
- Hold the objects on each other. ex: putting things in a cup. (as I said all the objects must be hold by you)
- Use the other hand to give any kind of support to the objects (for the shooting, of course)
- Use a wall or any other thing to give support to the objects

Odelya's assignment for Bruce:
The Inner Light Game
Meet a human, look at his eyes, find his light.

Catherine Smet

Shadowplay
Create a shadowplay with only he shadows visible and not the object(s) or subject(s) creating them.

Moritz's assignment for Catherine:
Photograph an object of your daily surrounding and abstract the subject (by the use of light or framing for example),so I have to guess what it is in the end.

Daria Oprean

Een ongeluk zit in een klein hoekje
Create an image of an action of the verge of going wrong.
Inspired from the Dutch expression: “een ongeluk zit in een klein hoekje” which basically
translated into misfortune hides away in a small corner.

Milana's assignment for Daria O.:
The interpretation game.
1. For this game we need 3 players. One who generates a sentence in a foreign language. And two who will photograph it.
2. The two players have to interpret the sentence into a photograph without translating it.
3. only after the pictures are posted on the website we can see how close we were into translating the sentence.
The sentence: Jeg er højt oppe i tårnet. Language, Danish.

Daria Yashina

Dancing
1. Take a photograph while dancing.
2. Do not stop moving to take a photograph.
3. While photographing do not look at the camera (viewfinder/screen). You can only observe your subject directly.
4. The subject of a photograph can be anything.

Miguel's assignment for Daria Y.:
1. Photograph your own shadow.
2. Natural light is not allowed.
3. Moving lights is also not allowed.
4. You are only allowed to use the lights that you already have in place around you.

Diane Mondésir

Follow the line
Rules:
I invite you to look around you and analyse how we are surrounded by lines.
The first step is to create a series of photographs representing a line. The second step is to gather
these photographs into a logical way and create a circuit of one continuous line. The goal is to
follow an imaginary line travelling through different aspects.
- Everything creates a line: edges of a fourniture, borders of an object, shadows, walls, a
fold …
- The line can be straight, thick, thin, curly, curved, horizontal, vertical, zigzag, diagonal,
spiral …
The start of the circuit will be your first picture placed on the top left of your presentation and
continues without any obstacles. You are the one who decides where the line goes and when it
stops.

Katinka's assignment for Diane:
Ik ga op reis en ik neem mee…
When I was a child I played the memory game ‘Ik ga op reis en ik neem mee’ which means ‘I'm going on a trip and I'm taking...’.
I invite you to play it with the camera.
The rules:
1. Choose 7 objects including yourself that you want to take with you on a vacation trip.
2. Choose a setting and a position of the body that doesn’t change so it stays the same in every picture.
3. Present the photo’s like the example (or see my result):
4. Export the files with these settings in photoshop: 6000 px longest side, Quality 10.
Have fun and good luck!

Dimitris Siokis

‘Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it, Snap it, work it, quick - erase it ’
Technologic, by Daft Punk (press to play)
Rules
-Choose one object
-Respond to each ‘command’ of the lyrics with one image, using the chosen object
-Combine all seven images in one layout – in any way you want
-Submit the final image

Iris' assignment for Dimitris:
Shadow Play – Rules
Take a picture where the shadow of the subject that is shown shows more and tells more than the subject itself.

Ean Demaeyer

Self
Make a self-portrait in which you challenge the photographic frame. Framing is one of the first steps in the photographic process. But what if it is refuted for once, and the subject (your self-portrait) is placed outside of the frame. Make sure that your face/ body is placed in the final image, but indirect from the perspective of your lens.

Eva's assignment for Ean:
Make fire underwater.
Rules
- don’t use photoshop
- use real fire and real water

Eduard Michalko

“Tell me, what do you know now, that you had no idea about in the morning.”
When I was younger my mother gave me a book “Olga” and there was a quote that stuck in my
head: “Tell me, what do you know now, that you had no idea about in the morning.”. I want you to
create an image of an object, action or person that you did not perceive or experience in the
morning of the day you decide to make the image.
example: I did not know this morning that I was going to burn my flowers. -image1

Esmeralda's assignment for Eduard:
This game is quite simple go on a little hunt to find objects in the same colour. Their original use
doesn’t matter. And with these objects you create a cohesive portrait.

Esmeralda Janson

The same colour
This game is quite simple go on a little hunt to find objects in the same colour. Their original use
doesn’t matter. And with these objects you create a cohesive portrait.

Eduard's assignment to Esmeralda:
When I was younger my mother gave me a book “Olga” and there was a quote that stuck in my
head: “Tell me, what do you know now, that you had no idea about in the morning.”. I want you to
create an image of an object, action or person that you did not perceive or experience in the
morning of the day you decide to make the image.
example: I did not know this morning that I was going to burn my flowers. -image1

Eva Thurman

Fire under water
Make fire underwater.
Rules
- don’t use photoshop
- use real fire and real water

Ean's assignment to Eva:
Make a self-portrait in which you challenge the photographic frame. Framing is one of the first steps in the photographic process. But what if it is refuted for once, and the subject (your self-portrait) is placed outside of the frame. Make sure that your face/ body is placed in the final image, but indirect from the perspective of your lens.

Iris Maselis

Shadow Play
– Rules
Take a picture where the shadow of the subject that is shown shows more and tells more than the subject itself.

Dimitris' assignment for Iris:
‘Charge it, point it, zoom it, press it, Snap it, work it, quick - erase it ’
Technologic, by Daft Punk (press to play)
Rules
-Choose one object
-Respond to each ‘command’ of the lyrics with one image, using the chosen object
-Combine all seven images in one layout – in any way you want
-Submit the final image

Katinka Meyers

Ik ga op reis en ik neem mee…
When I was a child I played the memory game ‘Ik ga op reis en ik neem mee’ which means ‘I'm going on a trip and I'm taking...’.
I invite you to play it with the camera.
The rules:
1. Choose 7 objects including yourself that you want to take with you on a vacation trip.
2. Choose a setting and a position of the body that doesn’t change so it stays the same in every picture.
3. Present the photo’s like the example (or see my result):
4. Export the files with these settings in photoshop: 6000 px longest side, Quality 10.

Diane's assignment for Katinka:
Follow the line
Rules:
I invite you to look around you and analyse how we are surrounded by lines.
The first step is to create a series of photographs representing a line. The second step is to gather
these photographs into a logical way and create a circuit of one continuous line. The goal is to
follow an imaginary line travelling through different aspects.
- Everything creates a line: edges of a fourniture, borders of an object, shadows, walls, a
fold …
- The line can be straight, thick, thin, curly, curved, horizontal, vertical, zigzag, diagonal,
spiral …
The start of the circuit will be your first picture placed on the top left of your presentation and
continues without any obstacles. You are the one who decides where the line goes and when it
stops.

Miguel Rozpide Pazo

Shadow
1. Photograph your own shadow.
2. Natural light is not allowed.
3. Moving lights is also not allowed.
4. You are only allowed to use the lights that you already have in place around you.

Daria Y's assignment for Miguel:
Dancing
1. Take a photograph while dancing.
2. Do not stop moving to take a photograph.
3. While photographing do not look at the camera (viewfinder/screen). You can only observe your subject directly.
4. The subject of a photograph can be anything.

Milana Starklova

The interpretation game.
1. For this game we need 3 players. One who generates a sentence in a foreign language. And two who will photograph it.
2. The two players have to interpret the sentence into a photograph without translating it.
3. only after the pictures are posted on the website we can see how close we were into translating the sentence.
The sentence: Jeg er højt oppe i tårnet. Language, Danish.

Daria O.'s assignment for Milana:
Een ongeluk zit in een klein hoekje
Create an image of an action of the verge of going wrong.
Inspired from the Dutch expression: “een ongeluk zit in een klein hoekje” which basically
translated into misfortune hides away in a small corner.

Moritz Broszat

Abstract
Photograph an object of your daily surrounding and abstract the subject (by the use of light or framing for example),so I have to guess what it is in the end.

Catherine's assignment for Moritz
Shadowplay
Create a shadowplay with only he shadows visible and not the object(s) or subject(s) creating them.

Odelya Atlasovitch

The Inner Light Game
Meet a human, look at his eyes, find his light.

Bruce's assignment for Odelya:
- You have to make a still life using only one of your hands.
- You have to hold with your hand a minimum of 5 different objects
- All the objects must be hold by the hand. You can hold, hang, wrap ,use your fingers as a hook, place objects between your fingers, whatever, as long as the objects are hold by you (your hand)
- All the objects must be visible.
- Create a nice composition with these objects.
- You can take the picture with the other arm or set the camera on a tripod or whatever you need or can do to take the picture.
- The idea is to make a nice “still life” having your hand as the only space to create a nice composition
- The image can be in colour or black and white
You cannot:
- Hold the objects on each other. ex: putting things in a cup. (as I said all the objects must be hold by you)
- Use the other hand to give any kind of support to the objects (for the shooting, of course)
- Use a wall or any other thing to give support to the objects

Puck Thissen

RGB
Preparations:
- Find objects that are red, green and blue
- Find something to place the objects on (table, floor, wall…)
- Set up lights
- Set up correct camera settings

Rules:
- Create a photo with only red, green and blue objects
- There can be no other colours, not even black or white
- Make the colours vibrant
- Make interesting compositions
- You have two options
        a. Create one photo with all three colours (at least 3 different objects: one red, one green, one blue)
        b. Create three photos, one colour per photo (use at least 2 different objects per photo)
- Not allowed to change colours after you take the photo (= you can’t make a purple object red using Photoshop)

Presentation:
a. No borders, longest side 1000px
b. 1 imagine with the three photos next to each other, no spaces in between, no borders, longest side 1000px

Brent's assignment for Puck:
Falling in the frame
Preparations to play this game:
- Search for a good wall as background.
- Set up the camera preferably on a tripod.
- Set the correct settings for your camera.
- Gather your objects.
The game itself:
- When the shutter goes off drop the objects.
- Try to get every object in your frame.
- Do this again, until you get a good picture.
- Do it with other objects or combinations.
- Enjoy.
Extra points:
- Use something red.
- See yourself in the frame.
- For getting more then 10 objects in the frame.
Presentation:
- 1 image with 3 different drops in it. No spaces between the images.

Robert Sasarman

Inconvenient
Take a photograph using an object in an inconvenient way.

Bas' assignment for Robert:
Follow a person, make different photographs of this person, afterwards reconstruct this person in a collage.

Sarah Kirchner

Metal Puzzle
Create a believable image by blending two images together. This can be done by creating a double exposure or by overlaying two images in post.
Rules:
- The composition needs to be created in camera and is not allowed to be changed in postproduction. (no moving things around, no transforming or resizing etc.)

Aron's assignment for Sarah K.:
Find an image in Google street view, which (subjectively) best represents your country.

Sarah Stone

`HOME JENGA`
JENGA MEANS `TO BUILD`IN SWAHILI. FOR THIS GAME I WANT YOU TO MAKE A STRAIGHT-ON STILL-LIFE PHOTOGRAPH THAT SHOWS `HOME JENGA` . THIS MEANS THAT THE PHOTO SHOULD SHOW A PILE OF OBJECTS TAKEN FROM YOUR APARTMENT, THE FRAME SHOULD BE FROM FLOOR TO CEILING AND THE PILE OF OBJECTS SHOULD GO FROM THE FLOOR TO THE CEILING.
THE RULES:
1) TAKE VARIOUS OBJECTS FROM YOUR HOME AND PILE THEM ON TOP OF EACH OTHER, JUST LIKE YOU WOULD DO IN JENGA, EACH OBJECT HELPS THE OTHER TO BALANCE
2) NO TOOLS CAN BE USED TO HELP SECURE THE OBJECTS, IT IS ALL ABOUT BALANCE
3) YOU CAN USE A BIGGER ITEM FOR THE BASE IF IT HELPS; BUT THINK ABOUT ITEMS THAT GIVE THE MOST HEIGHT E:G CHAIRS
4) EACH TIME AN ITEM IS ADDED, MAKE A STRAIGHT-ON PHOTOGRAPH OF YOUR HOME JENGA PROCESS
5) THE RESULTS SHOULD BE ONE IMAGE THE END OF HOME JENG
* You can use flash, but definitely use a tripod and once the position is good and the Jenga begins then refrain from moving the camera. Photos can be in black and white or in colour
* Keep a chair handy to use to climb on, to be able to reach the ceiling
* This can be a team game!
* Avoid using fragile objects that colour break incase they fall
* Think about utensils in your kitchen, appliances in your bathroom, bedding, pillows, furniture, food, it can be anything! :)

Anke's assignment for Sarah:
1) Collecting objects
• Find an object that is precious to you. It needs to be something that has an emotional value.
• Find an object that gives you a bad feeling. For instance: an object that makes you think of a bad memory, an object that triggers you, something disgusting etc. (it can be symbolic)
• Find an object that is neutral. Look around in your home and pick something that you don’t feel anything for.
2) Make an installation/ still life with the three collected objects
3) Take a picture

Sarah Van Wingerden

Out of context
Take an object from – or part of – your house and place it in a diffent context.

Amber's assignement for Sarah V.:
PLAY (with food)
Eat things the wrong way, try to make it look as uncomfortable as possible.

Theo Scherer

Rules:
I. The photographer’s body must be part of the photograph.
II. The photograph must be taken with a shutter speed of a second or slower.
III. The final image must be a negative of the photograph.

Alexia's assignment for Theo:
The rules
-Make a portrait (yourself or a model).
-You should not be recognizable in the photo.
-Photoshop is not allowed.

Veronika Breuer

Order & Chaos
When children organise something it looks like a chaos, but they have their own system and rules they are following. Somehow it seems logical to them for example to make a pattern out of objects instead of pushing them together the best way they fit. Give your objects a new form, place or usage in your home by forgetting the original ‘job’ of an object.

Ana Lucia's assignment for Veronika:
- Do not take a new photograph
- Use collage and photo editing in a new and inventive way, go crazy!
- Look at the work of Kensuke Koike, John Stezaker, Jesse Draxler