Patch: the card game
︎︎︎
Similar to Schmidt’s and Eno’s Oblique Strategies, James
Cigler designed Patch: The Card Game, a set of cards that would force the
artist to make choices that they were not thinking to make.
Patch: The Card Game is a set of cards that was originally designed to be a tool to expand Cigler’s skills and creativity with the modular, but it became something better, something that anyone with a modular synth could use to do the same, in flexible and unique ways, tailored to their needs.
The game has three different card types:
Abstraction: A framework or set of rules the patch must follow. E.g. Use only half of your modules, chosen at random.
Progressions: Aim to evolve or morph the state of the patch. E.g. Turn every attenuator down by half
Disruptions: Challenging changes that will alter the patch significantly. E.g. For each connection, flip a coin. If heads, unpatch.
The Basic Game
Separate and shuffle the Abstraction cards into their own pile. Shuffle the Progression and Abstraction cards into another pile.
Draw at least one Abstraction card and start patching, following the rule set by that card. The Abstraction card should stay in play for reference.
At some interval (eg. every 5min), draw a card from the Progression/Disruption pile and do the actions described on the card before placing it in a discard pile.
Repeat this as many times as you like until you feel the patch is finished. If you run out of Progression/Disruptions cards, shuffle the discard pile as your new draw pile.
The interesting thing about Patch: The Card Game is that it has various single player game modes such as Arbitrary Strategies, De-Composition, Auto Patch as well as different multiplayer modes like Patch Battle Royale (“PBR”) and PodMod Challenge.
Patch: The Card Game is a set of cards that was originally designed to be a tool to expand Cigler’s skills and creativity with the modular, but it became something better, something that anyone with a modular synth could use to do the same, in flexible and unique ways, tailored to their needs.
The game has three different card types:
Abstraction: A framework or set of rules the patch must follow. E.g. Use only half of your modules, chosen at random.
Progressions: Aim to evolve or morph the state of the patch. E.g. Turn every attenuator down by half
Disruptions: Challenging changes that will alter the patch significantly. E.g. For each connection, flip a coin. If heads, unpatch.
The Basic Game
Separate and shuffle the Abstraction cards into their own pile. Shuffle the Progression and Abstraction cards into another pile.
Draw at least one Abstraction card and start patching, following the rule set by that card. The Abstraction card should stay in play for reference.
At some interval (eg. every 5min), draw a card from the Progression/Disruption pile and do the actions described on the card before placing it in a discard pile.
Repeat this as many times as you like until you feel the patch is finished. If you run out of Progression/Disruptions cards, shuffle the discard pile as your new draw pile.
The interesting thing about Patch: The Card Game is that it has various single player game modes such as Arbitrary Strategies, De-Composition, Auto Patch as well as different multiplayer modes like Patch Battle Royale (“PBR”) and PodMod Challenge.
Welcome to mapping collaboration, a toolbox for workshopping and creating across disciplines...
In spite of a long history of interdisciplinary creation, from our earliest recorded arts to our present moment, artistic pedagogy has created divisions between disciplines. This has left artists in a "post-Babel" condition where we don't share the same language and definitions. It’s also encouraged artists to develop practices for devising, creating and composing work that are distinct to their disciplines.
In spite of a long history of interdisciplinary creation, from our earliest recorded arts to our present moment, artistic pedagogy has created divisions between disciplines. This has left artists in a "post-Babel" condition where we don't share the same language and definitions. It’s also encouraged artists to develop practices for devising, creating and composing work that are distinct to their disciplines.
The inspiration for this project came from faculty and students at Simon Fraser University’s School for the Contemporary Arts where BFA, MFA and PhD programs in Dance, Theatre Production and Design, Visual Art, Film, and Music and Sound all work together in studio settings and playfully experiment with processes of art-making.
We wanted to create a database of projects, assignments and theory that we collect inside the studio and from research happening in other places. We are curious about how we collaborate and how structures reoccur, translate and deviate from one discipline to another.
Composition is central to these processes and offers a base for our approaches and experiments. We are excited about what our students are doing and inspired by the new languages in contemporary art and performance we continue to see develop.
︎︎︎select a category above to build assignments, learn more about how artists process ideas across disciplines and to create a collaborative process of your own
︎︎︎these tools are collected and used in workshops and classes; some are resources from artists; some are quotes about art-making and how bodies think and listen; others are ideas to expand and disrupt your own training and processes.
︎︎︎Each idea is intentially short- and not meant to be executed as written, but to be adapted to your own practice and specific project/context. Some may be taken in parts or combined with others to spark new ways of training and making together.
︎︎︎submit your own ideas and tools so we can keep building this site!
︎︎︎select a category above to build assignments, learn more about how artists process ideas across disciplines and to create a collaborative process of your own
︎︎︎these tools are collected and used in workshops and classes; some are resources from artists; some are quotes about art-making and how bodies think and listen; others are ideas to expand and disrupt your own training and processes.
︎︎︎Each idea is intentially short- and not meant to be executed as written, but to be adapted to your own practice and specific project/context. Some may be taken in parts or combined with others to spark new ways of training and making together.
︎︎︎submit your own ideas and tools so we can keep building this site!
