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I Like Frank In Adelaide Blast Theory FringeHUB & city streets Unitl Sat 13 March Blast Theory are UK based multimedia artists collaborating with the Mixed Reality Lab from the University of Nottingham in launching a new kind of interactive game at the Fringe, the culmination of their work as the current Adelaide Thinkers in Residence. 'I Like Frank' is the result, where 3G (third Generation) phones are used by players on the street, linking with online gamers using a virtual version of Adelaide to navigate and find the enigmatic Frank. Players are marked on the phone map, and become sentinels with messages transmitted from them, though not always cogent, to add to the chase. Curious clues from Frank can also be called upon to help in the search, a mix of historical titbits and cryptic directions through East end backstreets, where everything becomes a potential marker - a note from a freaky mason stuck to the hall entrance, stencil head graffiti forcing one to ponder, "is that Frank?" As I was racing up Rundle Street with only minutes to go, excited and feeling like I was on the trail, that regular haze of people and consumption was muted in the pursuit of Frank. I am not sure who or what Frank is - I am still not sure if I found him - but the artists have created a game from frontier technology to assemble a strange little community pulling together on a Frank finding mission. Anyone on the street taking directions from their phone could be a team mate! Conceptual treasure hunt and techno orienteering, 'I Like Frank' makes one abandon the usual ways of being in the city and using technology, and give over to playing. All possessions are left at the start point, the phone becomes map and lifeline, the points and players names a safety net in finding the solution. Or that is what it became to me, between surges of anticipatory elation. Finding Frank is a surprise. |
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