Digital and physical collaborative Game.
Creative Entrepreneur in Residence at Cass Business School, City University London. Funded by Creativeworks London, AHRC funded Knowledge Hub.

SPACES 2050 is a unique interactive event where participants are sent to the year 2050 to become masters of illumination.

It is year 2050 – players are the masters of illumination – the future learners and researchers, whose mission it is to re-imagine our future learning and research spaces and send illuminating messages back in time to help year 2016 envision their 21st-century education space.

Wearing unique wearable lighting (created by Tine Bech Studio) participants have to complete a quest – finding seven reflection colour zones and solve a challenge at each site with their power of radiance. Using social media, images and other tools, players send answers back in time, reflecting what the future education spaces look like. The players’ messages of images and text are gathered online – becoming a glowing legacy. In SPACES 2050 players are not simply passive observers, but actively participate and engage, creating new artifacts which can be shared with others digitally.

The project was developed as part of a Creative Entrepreneur in Residence project and inspired by engagement with Cass Business School. The residency investigated how ludic participatory public spaces can help organisations innovate. It explored the relationship between public art and interactivity via new technologies. SPACES 2050: Seeing and Seers was the culmination of the residency. Tine developed the event around space and knowledge, a crucial issue for the school in the light of its strategy looking for significant improvements in its physical estate.

Photographs by Lleonard Rubio

Creative Entrepreneur in Residence at Cass Business School 2016.

Comments from the players:

We have been working collaboratively with artists since the late 1990s and these have usually been very memorable experiences. But I doubt anything will surpass the reactions to your artwork last night. This not only enabled our research ideas to be embodied in a very creative physical form, they also led to extraordinary levels of engagement from the general public, academics and students. I cannot thank you enough for the way you listened to our needs and aspirations, and then were able to create such an unforgettable and unique experience.
-Clive Holtham, Professor of Information Management and Director of Learning Laboratory, Cass Business School, City University London

I really enjoyed the active and playful approach to thinking about learning, and learning spaces of the future – a refreshing and stimulating alternative to sitting in a room with a pile of post-its!
-Dr Sara Jones, Course Director, Masters in Innovation, Creativity and Leadership

A hugely enjoyable event. Our quest team explored visions of 2050 as we engaged with and adapted the reflection zones to create a myriad of illuminated future learning spaces. 
-Dr Amanda Brown, Research Fellow, Cass Business School.

I really enjoyed the experience, being part of a team and the cool light vests – our team had a great time and somehow the quest inspired our thoughts and helped generate ideas. We took over the space – and maybe that’s a message for the future for learners.
-Sandra Partington, Senior educational technologist, LEaD

A great way of changing one’s perspective and activating the imagination. I was surprised with the depth of our ideas and my detailed visualization of the future! This activity made 2050 super tangible.
-Samantha Reis, Full time student on the Masters in Innovation, Creativity and Leadership.

Quick to appear and slow to fade, Tine’s illumination was a superb experience of exploring our shared education space. 
-Rachael Elliott, part-time student of our Masters in Innovation, Creativity and Leadership