World-building between artists, communities, and institutions
AGE OF RESISTANCE LIVE ACTION ROLE PLAY GAME
A game to explore alternative realities inside a museum, this LARP was inspired by the allegories of Jim Henson’s Dark Crystal Age of Resistance. The idea to activate museum media galleries with live action role play games was conceived of by Dr. Guerrero-Mostafa for Museum of the Moving Image, with support from the Henson Foundation, Wave Farm, and New York State Council for the Arts. She commissioned game artist Sharang Biswas and interactive theater director Nick O’Leary to create and lead this live action role play game (LARP). Seventy-five people of diverse ages, abilities, and backgrounds participated, searching for forgotten histories while building community with strangers. A third of the participants self-identified as neurodiverse. Participants designed their own characters based on objects from museum exhibits and interactions with performers placed around the museum, and then created their own stories together through role-play, in a final segment inspired by American Freeform and Nordic LAPR traditions. The LARP was commissioned for the exhibition Creatures from the Land of Thra: Character Design for The Dark Crystal: Age of Resistance.
THE BOLD TRUTH CARD GAME
Community dreams and desires shared in a card game
The Bold Truth is a card game for all ages, created by a group of seniors and teens. It was commissioned by Dr. Guerrero-Mostafa, who designed a community data lab in a public hospital that is reflected in this game, for the arts organization No Longer Empty. Inside an unused emergency waiting room, she organized workshops for the lab with local artists, art theory sessions, and community data gathering by ethnographic means, with help from project fellow Mica LeJohn. Sara asked social innovation designer Manolo Ampudia to teach a cohort of neighborhood residents how to create their own games. The Bold Truth reflects the ideas, dreams and desires of the community data lab participants who created this game: AJ Alves, Iris Thomas, Skyler Gibbs, Adrian Jones Gibs, Rhianna Brown, Joan Hay, Merella Parker, Tyreke Nelson, Yolanda Volcimus, Jaden Wilson, Alex Quintero, Anaya Rosely, Ashantie Strong, Tatiana Ravel, Bianca Aubry, Kalie Asencio, Justice Hamlin-James, Marie Messier, Treshure Butler, Robin Marion, and Stephanie Martinez — with guidance from experience designer Manolo Ampudia.
GAME BOX FOR MEDIA EDUCATION
Games to envision a future created by our own design
A toolbox for worldbuilding with games and new media. Twenty-one games and activities in this kit provide the user with ways to imagine new futures through game play and media design. For all ages, the kit features storytelling with creative technologies, STEM activities, and celebrates the idea that games are an area for critical play. The games in this kit invite players and creators to try out an attitude of curiosity and compassion when exploring complex subjects like climate change and cultural appropriation. The idea for this kit was initiated by Dr. Guerrero-Mostafa, who led the ideation, production, and fundraising for this didactic project with Museum of the Moving. In collaborative design sessions, Sara led a team of game designers, educators, experience designers, illustrators, curators, youth, and media specialists. Games and activities by Tiffany Joy Butler, Leonardo Santana-Zubieta, Lavender Suarez, Sharang Biswas, Ahmed El Shaer, David Rojas-Leon, and Sara Angel Guerrero. Social emotional skill-building in each game was created with guidance from Vanessa Heller, licensed social worker and therapist. Illustrations and graphic design by Josefina Guarracino.