Lutopia (2018-19)
By
Andy Abbott
Photograph of a child wearing a virtual reality headset.
Lutopia is a verbatim video game played on Virtual Reality headsets. All of the content (the characters, locations, dialogue and situations) were developed through workshops, creative sessions and submissions by real life Lutonians.
In the game the player explores an alternate reality version of Luton where - due to the discovery of a renewable source of energy - everyone is able to take part in the civic life of the city. In this sense the game acts as a 'postcapitalist/postwork future' or Universal Basic Income simulator. The project, conceived and developed by Yorkshire-based artist Andy Abbott, was supported as part of the University of Bedfordshire's Testbeds Artist Accelerator programme throughout 2018, and then commissioned as the finale event for Luton Borough Council's 'People Power Passion' City of Culture bid pilot programme in October 2019.
The workshops delivered to develop the content for Lutopia engaged over 100 people with a specific aim to involve individuals and groups who would often be left out of the conversation about the town's future including: young people at risk of exclusion from mainstream education, people with dementia, people who had suffered head injuries, vulnerable women, and those who faced economic barriers. The public sharing of the pilot game was held in The Mall (the main shopping centre in Luton). For the public showcase event as part of People Power Passion, the game was projected onto Luton Town Hall and was accompanied by a day-long festival exploring ideas and themes of the game to ask 'how can we build Lutopia?'.
"Andy’s practice demonstrates how it is possible to use arts process/output to deepen relationships between art and technology; community/civic life to strategic visioning. It is clear that Andy has an investment in the town, with a passion to increase arts participation through non-traditional and interdisciplinary arts approaches, and we are excited to see his work extend in the town.” - Emma Payne, Centre for Academic Partnerships, University of Bedfordshire
"Really fun and made me think" - anonymous 8-year old workshop participant.
More information: http://lutopia.co.uk/
