Guy Debord's The Game of War (2007-14)

Established in spring 2007, Class Wargames is a group of artists, academics and agitators who came together to play, re-enact and explore the possibilities of Guy Debord's The Game of War.

The Game of War is a Clausewitz simulator: a Napoleonic-era military strategy game where armies must maintain their communications network to survive. This game was created by Guy Debord who is celebrated as the leader of the Situationist International and as the author of the searing critique of the media-saturated society of consumer capitalism: The Society of the Spectacle.

 The film  Class Wargames Presents Guy  Debord’s The Game of War is a 21st century treatise on revolutionary strategy. For Debord, the Game of War wasn’t just a game, but a guide to how people should live their lives within industrial society. By playing, revolutionary activists could learn how to fight and win against the oppressors of spectacular society. 

The installation consists of the film, the board game and 7 Xenographs by Alex Veness. Xenon-Eye is a hybrid camera constructed by Class Wargames co-founder, Alex Veness. 

http://www.classwargames.net/

Biography

Class Wargames were founded in 2007 and have played games at places such as Victoria and Albert Museum, London and the Hermitage, St. Petersburg. Members are: Richard Barbrook, University of Westminster; Ilze Black, Queen Mary, University of London; Lucy Blake, Software Developer; Mark Copplestone, Copplestone Castings; Rod Dickinson, University of the West of England; Elena Vorontsova Duffield, WRN Broadcast; Stefan Lutschinger, Middlesex University; Fabian Tompsett, London Psychogeographical Association; and Alex Veness, University of the Arts London.