This week I wanted to introduce you to my international faculty family from MICA.
The core member is Eduardo from Mexico, Matteo from Italy, and Hayelin from Korea. We are all immigrants and share similar experiences and hardships. It was such a comfort to have this group more than ever when covid-19 happened. We have a weekly cooking zoom now to share each others recipes. I’m super thankful to all of them :)
Ok! Let’s start the interview!
Me:
What is your essential item/food on your quarantine shopping list?
Matteo:
Here is the brand of Crushed Tomatoes that I always have in my grocery list https://www.amazon.com/Cento-Crushed-Tomato-28-oz/dp/B000VDWSGU I cannot find it here in NY but it’s been a good companion in Baltimore! I like it because I can use it for a lot of stuff: side of lentils, zuppa toscana (soups), spaghetti al pomodoro (and all the pasta in general)..and also, when I open the can, I always love to get a full spoon raw, it’s delicious!!
Me:
Oh that sounds really good :) I also love the packaging, too. You cook a lot! What is your favorite dish to cook during this quarantine time? Did you try something new?
Matteo:
Oh yeah! I tried a lot of new things since everything is out of control, cooking is giving me a lot of calm! Anyway they bigger improvement has been in making bread, I bake twice a week, usually a 1.5 pounds-loaf, sometimes also focaccia, a very oily (but delicious) italian flat bread.
Me:
Wow that sounds good. I will try making bread, too this week. It sounds so hard! But my sourdough starter is ready :)
Since the social distancing and teaching online, your performance class at MICA had to shift. Would you describe me the original The Search for Johnny Redacted project and how it had to change?
Matteo:
I have to say that the students were amazing, their ability to adapt and work hard in this context has been inspiring. The class topic was Live Immersive Experience, so the idea was to have a site-specific show with actors, interactions, one-on-one etc..can you imagine? So instead we (me and my collegues Lisi Stoessel that was co-teaching with me) went back to the core questions of the show and we switched to an online experience. Audience will join this group of characters to perform a ritual over Zoom to evoke a character named Johnny Redacted. Before the ritual you could enter different rooms and chat with the characters to understand better what the show was about and who was this Johnny! It was really cool! You will see images soon on IG follow @micaimmersive.
Me:
That is amazing Matteo! YES for the amazing students and congratulations on finishing the project strong.
Urban game is something I didn't know till I met you! Can you describe what it is? (I know it's a big question) I am hoping the covid-19 will be under control and we will be back to the regular life. Are you talking to another game designers about the social distance and how it affect the games you design? I Also you design the board games, since family are stuck at home, would it be a family game renaissance?
Matteo:
Ok, I can talk about these topics for months! I’ve contributed to the creation of Trust in Play, the European School of Urban Game Design, and yeah, there is a lot of discussion, new project and new ideas coming out of that, urban games mostly happens in public space and we are an international community so it’s amazing to see how everyone is adapting. Board game? I’m a newbie on that, before coming to Baltimore and working at the Game Lab my experience with that was low I would say, but that is a board-game temple! We have more then 350 games so I started playing a lot of them with our colleagues. I think that yes, I think there will be a renaissance on board game (another one after the one of the early 2000), my wife is getting passionated about it and this is a signal that they are becoming mainstream!
Me:
Ha!! I had no idea you got into the board game after you arrive to MICA!
Tell me about your projects you are working on.
Matteo:
I’m working on three games at the moment! One is a card game called Invisible Cities that would be free and downloadable on my page on Ithc.io, the second is a family board game called Monster Parade (that I’ve designed together with Jason Corace) but in the next month I will work a lot on Geology, a physical game that you can play at home, it’s my first time coding and I’m using Arduino and a Microcontroller called Adafruit Circuit Playground, it’s a lot of fun and I fell also so dumb, which is a sign that I’m exploring in the right direction.
Wow three projects! You are busy, and all the games sounds exciting :)
Thank you so much Matteo for the interview!
If you want to know more about the immersive theater, you can check out his “The Playcast” a podcast theplaycast.co
And also more about the Urban game, Matteo is part of this group www.urbangames-factory.it
you should check it out :)
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Project Note:
The idea of “ My friend’s quarantine shopping list” started when I was peeking at people’s shopping baskets during the COVID-19. What are their essentials? Is there a one thing they can’t live without? I was curious about my friend’s. Everyone’s list was unique and I enjoy making the items and talking about them with my friends. I hope this brighten your day and maybe those items will make it to your next shopping list :) Have a nice staying home day!