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| Your chance to play a card game called 'Leeds' | Your chance to play a card game called 'Leeds' |
| (14 days later) | |
| Did you know that there was a card game called 'Leeds'? I didn't, although I am a native of the city and have amassed a stash of offbeat information about it during my working life. | Did you know that there was a card game called 'Leeds'? I didn't, although I am a native of the city and have amassed a stash of offbeat information about it during my working life. |
| It was invented by an artist from France, a country which is responsible for a number of curious cultural interventions in or about Leeds, and it's going to be played in public at an event organised by the Henry Moore Institute and the artists-run &model gallery in the city next month. | It was invented by an artist from France, a country which is responsible for a number of curious cultural interventions in or about Leeds, and it's going to be played in public at an event organised by the Henry Moore Institute and the artists-run &model gallery in the city next month. |
| The game was the brainchild of the artist Robert Filliou who taught in the 1970s in Leeds, working with Robin Page and George Brecht, albeit in an unconventional manner. A Communist resistance fighter during the Nazi occupation who later worked as a labourer in Los Angeles for Coca Cola and became a UN economic adviser in Korea, he organised what he called an 'un-school' in France. The principle was: | The game was the brainchild of the artist Robert Filliou who taught in the 1970s in Leeds, working with Robin Page and George Brecht, albeit in an unconventional manner. A Communist resistance fighter during the Nazi occupation who later worked as a labourer in Los Angeles for Coca Cola and became a UN economic adviser in Korea, he organised what he called an 'un-school' in France. The principle was: |
| A great deal of artists' work has to do with un-learning, with anti-brainwashing | A great deal of artists' work has to do with un-learning, with anti-brainwashing |
and Filliou set about its curriculum with joie de vivre. | and Filliou set about its curriculum with joie de vivre. |
| He created Boxes of Optimism and declared that art had come into being on 17 January 998,037BC when someone dropped a sponge into water. The date is now celebrated on its anniversary by admirers of the Fluxus movement of which Filliou was part. This year, the notional cake had a million and fifty candles. | He created Boxes of Optimism and declared that art had come into being on 17 January 998,037BC when someone dropped a sponge into water. The date is now celebrated on its anniversary by admirers of the Fluxus movement of which Filliou was part. This year, the notional cake had a million and fifty candles. |
| Seventies Leeds had a properly welcoming attitude to such impishness, coupled with a tradition of games-making at Waddington's in Stourton. Originally a printing firm, the company produced playing cards and invented scores of famous board games. Monopoly, an American import, was first played in England at the home of the firm's owners, the Watson family, in Scotland Lane between Horsforth and Leeds/Bradford airport. | Seventies Leeds had a properly welcoming attitude to such impishness, coupled with a tradition of games-making at Waddington's in Stourton. Originally a printing firm, the company produced playing cards and invented scores of famous board games. Monopoly, an American import, was first played in England at the home of the firm's owners, the Watson family, in Scotland Lane between Horsforth and Leeds/Bradford airport. |
| Filliou's 'Leeds' is less complicated than Monopoly, although not immediately easy to understand. Lisa Le Feuvre, head of sculpture studies at the Henry Moore Institute, tells the Yorkshire Evening Post: | Filliou's 'Leeds' is less complicated than Monopoly, although not immediately easy to understand. Lisa Le Feuvre, head of sculpture studies at the Henry Moore Institute, tells the Yorkshire Evening Post: |
| It involves a lot of drinking, with the players being blindfolded and using double-sided cards so that the audience can shout instructions to them. The players have to trust the audience and allow their moves to be orchestrated by people who are watching over them. If we were in France, this exhibition would be very significant, but because he is not as well known in Britain I expect it to be very popular, but more of a slow burn. His art was essentially about research into the way people live. | It involves a lot of drinking, with the players being blindfolded and using double-sided cards so that the audience can shout instructions to them. The players have to trust the audience and allow their moves to be orchestrated by people who are watching over them. If we were in France, this exhibition would be very significant, but because he is not as well known in Britain I expect it to be very popular, but more of a slow burn. His art was essentially about research into the way people live. |
The participatory side of playing Leeds will be encouraged by the Leeds Weirdo Club, a group of Filliouesque artists who have got together with the Henry Moore to stage next month's special game. This takes place on 17 April as part of its current exhibition on the artist which has the excellent title of Robert Filliou: the Institute of Endless Possibilities. | The participatory side of playing Leeds will be encouraged by the Leeds Weirdo Club, a group of Filliouesque artists who have got together with the Henry Moore to stage next month's special game. This takes place on 17 April as part of its current exhibition on the artist which has the excellent title of Robert Filliou: the Institute of Endless Possibilities. |
| If you want tips on how to be a good, or alternatively subversive, audience member, there is a fair amount of information about Leeds, the game, online. It looks from the photographs as though it would be easy to make your own set, and the institute, Weirdos and others will help with the rules. | If you want tips on how to be a good, or alternatively subversive, audience member, there is a fair amount of information about Leeds, the game, online. It looks from the photographs as though it would be easy to make your own set, and the institute, Weirdos and others will help with the rules. |
| One of France's other, rather challenging involvements with Leeds meanwhile remains unresolved and the Guardian Northerner would be delighted if anyone could crack it. In his 1920s desert island novel Suzanne et le Pacifique, Jean Giradoux describes how the body of a British sailor is washed ashore with 'I am a son of happy Leeds' tattooed on his arm. Giradoux continues: | One of France's other, rather challenging involvements with Leeds meanwhile remains unresolved and the Guardian Northerner would be delighted if anyone could crack it. In his 1920s desert island novel Suzanne et le Pacifique, Jean Giradoux describes how the body of a British sailor is washed ashore with 'I am a son of happy Leeds' tattooed on his arm. Giradoux continues: |
| Un fils de l'heureuse Leeds, de la riche Leeds, grouillante d'épingles à tête et d'épingles à cheveux plus qu'un divan | Un fils de l'heureuse Leeds, de la riche Leeds, grouillante d'épingles à tête et d'épingles à cheveux plus qu'un divan |
which translates literally as | which translates literally as |
| A son of happy Leeds, of rich Leeds, more alive with hatpins and hairpins than a sofa | A son of happy Leeds, of rich Leeds, more alive with hatpins and hairpins than a sofa |
But what does it mean? | But what does it mean? |
| The Leeds Game will be played on Wednesday 17 April between 6-9pm. It's free of charge and open to all but booking is essential. For more information check online here or contact Kirstie Gregory, Research Programme Assistant: kirstie@henry-moore.org | The Leeds Game will be played on Wednesday 17 April between 6-9pm. It's free of charge and open to all but booking is essential. For more information check online here or contact Kirstie Gregory, Research Programme Assistant: kirstie@henry-moore.org |
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