Field Account
Travelling without money
A founder's summary of journeys made to test whether a performer's and game designer's skills help a person read reality.
Context
Before Open World had a research vocabulary, its founder repeatedly took the practice out of workshops and festivals and into conditions where it had to work.
The journeys
- Across America, from New York City to Los Angeles, without using money.
- Across Australia, from Sydney to Adelaide and through the red centre to Darwin.
- Into countries including Greece and Spain without the language or an established local network.
The guiding question
Can the skills of a game designer and performer help a person read reality, recognise its invitations and navigate what happens next?
These journeys placed communication, improvisation, trust and perception under real conditions. The inquiry they opened now informs questing, the Peculiarity Engine and the wider research programme.
Evidence and limitations
- This is a first-person summary by Atlas Talisman. It is a report of experience, not an independently documented study.
- Detailed accounts of individual journeys have not been published here.