Sebastian Quack on Critical Play and Reimagining Public Space
In an interview with Alison Hugill for Berlin Art Link, artist, curator, and game designer Sebastian Quack discusses his practice of "critical play," which involves moving play into unconventional contexts to question societal structures. Quack's projects include 'BOARDWALK' (2021), where he embedded classic board game boards like Monopoly and Settlers of Catan into the ground in Berlin's Mitte district, adding new rules and a walking tour. He also created 'Tracing Remembrance' (2022) for the Theater der Jungen Welt Leipzig, a phone-based game that juxtaposes a contemporary gig-economy start-up with the history of Nazi forced labor at the Leipzig memorial. Quack co-directs the MA program "Spiel und Objekt / Experimental Play" at the University of Theatre Arts Ernst Busch and has directed the 'Now Play This' festival at Somerset House in London. He emphasizes the importance of play literacy and warns against leaving playfulness to the Far Right, advocating for a critical approach that combines openness with awareness of play's social and political implications.
Key facts
- Sebastian Quack is an artist, curator, and game designer.
- His project 'BOARDWALK' (2021) embedded classic board game boards in public space in Berlin's Mitte district.
- The boards included Monopoly, Settlers of Catan, Snakes and Ladders, and Risk.
- He wrote new rules for the games and created a booklet for a walking tour.
- The project was part of a group exhibition in a former no man's land near the Berlin Wall.
- Quack created 'Tracing Remembrance' (2022) for the Theater der Jungen Welt Leipzig.
- The game involved walking to real historical locations and mapping them as a worker for a fictional gig-economy app.
- It was commissioned in collaboration with the Nazi Forced Labour Memorial Leipzig.
- Quack co-directs the MA program 'Spiel und Objekt / Experimental Play' at the University of Theatre Arts Ernst Busch.
- He directed the 'Now Play This' festival at Somerset House in London as part of London Games Week.
- He references Mary Flanagan's book on 'critical play'.
- He is inspired by game designer Frank Lantz's quote: 'we make games with computers inside them, not the other way around.'
- The interview was published on August 28, 2026, by Berlin Art Link.
Entities
Artists
- Sebastian Quack
- Alison Hugill
- Anastasia Landa
- Michelle Mantel
- Frederik Britzlmair
- Laurence Young
- Ben Peter Catchpole
- Frank Lantz
- Mary Flanagan
- Lizzie Magie
Institutions
- Berlin Art Link
- SEAM Festival of Spiel und Objekt / Experimental Play
- Theater der Jungen Welt Leipzig
- Nazi Forced Labour Memorial Leipzig
- University of Theatre Arts Ernst Busch
- Somerset House
- London Games Week
- Parker Brothers
Locations
- Berlin
- Germany
- Leipzig
- London
- United Kingdom
- Mitte
- Berlin Wall
- Skulpturenpark Berlin Zentrum
- Zitadelle Spandau