Marie LeBlanc Flanagan

Marie LeBlanc Flanagan

Email: hello@marieflanagan.com | Website: marieflanagan.com

Marie LeBlanc Flanagan is an artist working in the playful spaces between people, especially related to connection and community. Marie builds experimental installations, art games, and web creations.

Marie started Wyrd Arts Initiatives, a nonprofit dedicated to encouraging and documenting creative expression across Canada as well as Drone Day, an international day for the celebration of experimental drone music and communities. Marie works with Wizard Zines. Marie co-organized GAIA 2021, a 9-session online conference for 150+ game curators worldwide and cocreated the Imaginary Residency, an artist-run online residency.

Commissions

  • CURR Tender Circuits (Web), A web experience documenting the work of artists exploring the concept of connection and fungal intelligence through participating in AR app development. Blog

  • 2022 ComeWithMe (Immersive Installation) produced through Société des arts technologiques | Metalab residency. An interactive digital art piece exploring connection and the spaces between people. Blog

  • 2021 Soft Sanctuary (Web) with Proyecto Bios & Canadian Embassy. A peaceful web space for slow connection, through interactive question prompt, 3D sculptures, and soft sounds.

  • 2020 Throne room (Web) Collaborative graffiti in an online public bathroom at A MAZE. A virtual bathroom where participants are encouraged to collaboratively create graffiti, and consider what they flush away. A MAZE. Berlin

  • 2019 Follow (Installation), Two-person cooperative installation at NYU. A two-person cooperative game installation about shared control, and the intimacy of opposition.

  • 2018 Common (Installation), City-wide online and offline cooperative installation at CAFKA. A collaborative play experience for cities exploring networks of care, decentralized resource management, and community trust.

Collaborations

  • CURR COVE/COVOX - Inter Arts Matrix (Multi-disciplinary) Knowledge Mobilisation. A project with the goal of experimenting, developing and sharing knowledge about digital audience engagement. An interdisciplinary knowledge sharing and mentorship program aiming to experiment with, and develop digital audience engagement strategies, while supporting six artists’ projects. Blog

  • 2022 How DNS Works Zine (Web) with Julia Evans. An online resource explaining how Domain Name Systems work. Blog

  • 2022: Song of the Soil (Most Adventurous/Innovative) A tiny game about microbes and fungus and the beauty of soil made for Climate Jam. (instagram, Instagram 2, Twitter)

  • CURR Monahan (Web) A meditate sound piece and narrative experience, inspired by the Monahan wetlands, that aims to provide a deeper understanding of the interrelation of all forms of life. Blog

  • 2021 ​Mess With DNS (Web) with Julia Evans. An online resource to learn about Domain Name Systems through playful experiments. Blog

  • 2022 What Brings You In (Web) Experience Design, for Leslie Ting. An interactive online show with music, live narration, guest voices, and playful interactions. An interactive online music-driven experimental show with live narration, about the many ways we engage with the therapeutic process. Blog

  • 2021: Game Arts International Assembly (GAIA) (Event) Co-organizer, a 9-session online conference event for 150+ game curators around the world. A 9-session online conference event for 150+ game curators around the world, focused on interconnecting existing game arts organizations and nurturing new structures in emerging regions. Blog

  • 2021 Mummer’s Journey (Web) Experience Design for the game, design and development for the online advent calendar. A Musical Web experience. A virtual, 3D immersive version of the community of Woody Point acts as an online interactive advent calendar experience. blog

  • 2021 We dance with space owl (Digital), produced at the Imaginary Residency with Eryn Tempest and Illest Preacha blog

  • 2021 Speculation​ (Performance), Consulting Experience Design, with Leslie Ting. A theatrical concert with an immersive visual design based on the experience of vision loss. Blog

  • 2020 Mood Ring (Web), Musical web installation with Debaser. An interactive prompt-based music generator that allows the player to explore their subconscious.

  • 2020 Special Guest (Web, Performance), An experimental marketplace for booking playful guests to improve online meetings, and an invitation to imagine other ways of gathering. Led by me, in collaboration with a team of international artists.

  • 2020 Neighbourbot (Web), with Julia Evans for !!Con 2020. Temporary connections with neighbours at online events. A bot designed to initiate short spontaneous connections at online events.

  • 2020 Lungbutter | "Curtain" Music Video, Performer

  • 2019 Arcade friend (Installation) — Project Lead? Custom arcade cabinet game exploring labour, play, and the humans behind machine learning. Led by me, with students and faculty at NYU.

  • 2019 Tiny dance closet (Installation) — Project Lead? Mixed Reality spatial exploration of restrictive office environments, and bodily liberation. Led by me, with students and faculty at NYU.

  • 2018 Dream Room (Installation), with Linsey Raymaekers and Brie Code (TRU LUV), Peaceful space for connecting & grounding with others. A soft and introspective ritual space designed to nurture presence, reflection, and connection, and to escape the sensory overwhelm of event spaces.

  • 2018 Calling (Game) — Mixed reality exploration of collaborative and cooperative computing at Dynamicland. Co-led with Isaac Cohen, with support from a large group of collaborators. Blog

  • 2018 Bright (AR) — Project Lead? An interactive augmented reality play space featuring the blocking and mixing of colored light. Led by me, in collaboration with David Dynerman. Blog

  • 2015 TexTiles (Game) — Project Lead? A pattern-matching game using an open source database of historically relevant textiles. Led by me, with support from a team. Blog

  • 2014 Response (Performance) — A playful music performance commissioned by Open Ears Blog

Consulting

  • 2022 Long Winter (Event), Consultant, A music and arts monthly shoxwcase in Toronto featuring music, visual art, large scale installation, video, performance art, theatre, dance, new media and xR. Blog

  • 2022 #selfcare (Web) Design/Consulting for TruLuv. An experimental app designed incorporating rituals to deepen care, compassion, and connection. Blog

  • 2019 FOMO (Installation), Creative Consultant. Interactive Public Art work with Daily Tous Les Jours. Blog

  • 2019 Trillium (Installation), Creative Consultant. Interactive Public Art work with Daily Tous Les Jours. Blog

  • 2018 GenieLab a playful space for connection at the Arche summit. Blog

  • 2015: The School of Machines, Making, and Make-Believe

Solo work

  • 2021 Friend news (Web), A simple friends-only social media platform blog

  • 2020 Sound Games (Web), Collection of playful connections to sound for Drone Day. Conceptual art in the form of tiny games inviting people to get intimate, playful, and curious about their relationship to sound.

  • 2019 Emergency Exhibition Care (Performance), Rogue acts of care at ITP. Service art: an enactment of care for working artists.

  • 2018 Auscult (Installation?), Turns feelings in music, using Wekinator and ofxAbletonLive. A facial recognition/biosignal experience using machine learning to allow you to play another person’s body as an instrument.

  • 2017 Burst (Installation) — Interactive olfactory narrative installation created and led by me, with support from the Berlin Smell Lab.

  • 2017 Undertow (Web) — Interactive browser-based narrative exploring depersonalization, presented at Global Game Jam Blog

  • 2016 Other Hands (VR Installation) — Virtual reality experience exploring the relationship between our real and virtual selves through the permanence of a person’s virtual choices on their physical body.

  • 2016 Closer (Installation), Physically cooperative game for two players. Cooperative computer vision experimental game using two people’s moving bodies as a shared single controller to explore relational spaces.

  • 2012 Þink (Game) — Experimental game using a seed-to-plant allegory to explore the cultivation of creative ideas from inception through fruition. Blog

Founded

  • 2021 Imaginary Residency A open-source collaborative artist residency (co-founded).

  • 2018 A Kind of Play Creating, teaching & connecting with play. interactive experiences, experimental storytelling, and strange games

  • 2014 Drone Day Annual celebration of drone and ambient sounds around the world.

  • 2012 Wyrd Arts National arts nonprofit celebrating experimental music, zines, and art. Wyrd Arts Initiatives, a nationwide nonprofit dedicated to encouraging, documenting, and connecting creative expression across Canada.

Community events / research

  • 2022 Drone Jam making experimental games, toys, or playful things related to the idea of sustained tones Blog

  • 2022 Playful questions a casual open discussion series Blog

  • 2022 Dall-e AI Ethics Play Session ​​exploring feelings around ai / ethics / being here now Blog

  • 2022 Inter Arts Matrix Playful Session (Online) - Co-organiser/Host. An online workshop exploring 3D creation in Blender and ZBrush

  • 2022 Inter Arts Matrix/Ontario Creates Playful Session (Online) - Co-organiser/Host. An online workshop about funding opportunities for game creation

  • 2022 Drone Day (Virtual/Worldwide) - Organiser. An annual celebration of drone, community, and experimental sounds Blog

  • 2022 Virtual CC Fest (Online) - Co-organizer. A virtual online creative coding event. Blog

  • 2022 X-Camera (Online) - Host. Conversations with six artists to discuss their artistic practice and COVE/COVOX projects (embeds not working)

  • 2022 Ctrl+Shift: Data Sovereignty & Community Action (Online) - Co-organizer with Ada X, and InterAccess. Conversations about listening, inquiring, contemplating, and consent-building in the age of digital giants Blog

  • Play Sessions Blog

  • 2022 Play Sessions: How to Finance Your Game without Going into Debt with Meagan Byrne (Online) - Co-Organiser. A workshop about financing games for small indie game studios.

  • 2022 Play Sessions: Making It Work: Tools & Modes for Interactive Experiences (Online) - Co-Organiser. A workshop about designing playful interactive experiences, with Jess Rowan Marcotte

  • 2021 Inter Arts Matrix #playsessions: Concentric Fictions with Dhruv Jani (Online) - Co-Host. Exploring magical realism, experimentation, and nonsense verse.

  • 2022 Inter Arts Matrix #playsessions: Weird Theatre Games workshop with D. Squinkifer, a workshop about transforming emotionally challenging situations into one-of-a-kind awkward theatre games

  • 2021 Drone Day (Virtual/Worldwide) - Organiser. An annual celebration of drone, community, and experimental sounds.

  • 2021 The New Spacemakers at GAIA, a playful doodle documentation Blog

  • 2021- Parallel park play- A tiny gathering for us to play alongside each other. Blog

  • 2021 Tech Tech Tech - Why not tech giants? with Ada X Montreal, a 4-part workshop with co-researchers exploring alternatives for office tools, social media, online gatherings, portfolios, performances & exhibitions Blog

  • 2021 NoWorking an online series of sessions dedicated to not working, and challenging ideas around labour Blog

  • 2020 Collaborative Drawing with Isabella and Nomi Blog

  • 2020: Online Spaces - Event series exploring online spaces together Blog

  • 2020 FemTech Online Hangs - with the feminist online org Blog

  • 2020 Experimental Gatherings - Inspiration Show & Tell

  • 2019 Arcade 11 with TAG Research Center & 4th Space, Helper? Blog

Experience Design

  • 2015 A MAZE. Berlin, Germany (Event), an experimental games showcase, conference, awards show

Publications

Press

Residencies

  • 2022 SAT Metalab Artist Residency pic stuck blog post

  • 2021 Iceland Residency

  • 2020 Softie Feelies (Online) Interdisciplinary Artist Residency

  • 2019 NYU Game Center Artist in Residence

  • 2019 LIVE Lab Artist Residency / Large Interactive Virtual Environment Lab (Hamilton) Artist Residency insta insta2

  • 2018 Technoculture, Art & Games (Montreal) Artist residency

Juries/Committees

  • 2019-2022 - Eastern Bloc on the Programming Committee

  • 2019 The Bit Awards as a Juror

  • 2015-2020 Polaris Music Prize as a Juror

  • 2017 Northern Game Design as a Juror

Boards

  • 2015-2022 Inter Arts Matrix: Birthplace of Hybrid Art Board Member

  • 2021 Pixelles mentor

  • 2015-2016 NUMUS - New Music Now Board Member

Awards

  • 2022: IGDA Climate Jam - Song of the Soil (Most Adventurous/Innovative)

  • TexTiles: Free Knowlege 3rd place

GROUP Exhibitions

  • 2022 SAT ComeWithMe

  • 2021? Soft Sanctuary

  • 2021 Iceland Residency Show

  • 2020 A MAZE. Berlin (Online) Throne Room

  • 2020 Living Arts (Mississauga, Canada)

  • 2019 No Quarter Exhibition Follow by Marie Claire LeBlanc Flanagan- What is following anyway?

  • 2018 Winter Play (San Francisco, USA) Researched decentralized communities for an installation

  • 2018 A MAZE. (Berlin, Germany)

  • 2018 Hand Eye Society Ball (Toronto, Canada) Closer: A full-body cooperative game for couples: To start, you must stand together, and to succeed, you must work together. The controller for Closer is the physical space between two people. Find a friend and navigate your ball of light through the spikes and upwards for as long as you can synchronize your movements!

  • 2017 Playful Arts (Manaus Brasil)

  • 2017 $Bash (London, UK)

  • 2017 A MAZE. (Johannesburg, South Africa)

  • 2017 Arcadia (Dundee, Scotland)

  • 2017 IXDS Munich (Germany)

  • 2017 Transmediale Vorspiele (Germany)

  • 2016 CC3C (Hamburg, Germany) : Closer

  • 2016 Beta Public (London, England): Closer

  • 2016 Code Motion (Berlin, Germany) : Closer

  • 2016 Plan - B (Kharkiv, Ukraine) Marie’s website Closer: It was a space to find peace without retreat. That's when I knew I would design spaces for peace inside the party.

  • 2016 GMG (Berlin, Germany) : Closer

  • 2016 PLAY (Hamburg, Germany) - Closer: Closer is a cooperative game for two people: to start you must stand close together, and to succeed you must work together.

  • 2016 Incubate (Tilburg, Netherlands) Closer

  • 2016 A MAZE.( Johannesburg, South Africa) : Closer

  • 2016 ArtGames (Berlin, Germany): Closer

  • 2016 WWC (Berlin, Germany) : Closer

  • 2012 DMG (Toronto, Canada)

Keynotes

  • 2018 The Spaces Between Us: Designing for Play Goethe-Institut Game Science Centre, Berlin, Germany

  • 2018 New Media Art and Designing Experiences with Play IAM 10th Kitchener, Canada

  • 2015 Building DIY Music Communities CHUO Annual Ottawa, Canada

  • 2015 Weird Loops: Bridges to Nowhere Somewhere There Creative Festival Toronto, Canada fb

  • 2014 Building Platforms for Community Empowerment NCRC 2014 Victoria, Canada Archived website

Workshops/Teaching

  • 2021: Sandbox sessions:A series of workshops about the space & fundamentals of creative tech with beginners Blog

  • 2021 Pixelles Game Incubator IX two workshops Blog

  • 2020 Pixelles Game Incubator A Kind of Play Workshop for those feeling stuck on finding ideas for their game.

  • 2021 Pixelles Game Incubator IX A Kind of Play Workshop on making your first game

  • 2021 Make your own website two workshops for beginners to learn HTML and CSS Blog

  • May 16 2021 Make your own website

  • May 23 2021 Make your own website

  • 2021 Getting Personal: Hands-On Guide to Making Personal Games School of Machines Blog

  • 2021 Hypo//Hyper Presence, No 1: Filters (Online). Workshop on AR filters

  • 2021 Genielab Taught an AI & Visual Art workshop with teenagers Blog

  • 2020 Document your work - 10 workshops from August 31 2020, June 15 2022 Blog

  • 2020 (Spring Term) Personal Games School of Machines, Making, Make-Believe, Online

  • 2020 (Fall Term) Personal Games School of Machines, Making, Make-Believe, Online

  • 2019 NYU Game Center Guest Lecturer

  • 2019 A Kind of Play Workshop Krakow, Poland

  • 2018 A Kind of Play Workshop Dundee, Scotland

  • 2017 A Kind of Play Workshop Berlin, Germany

  • 2017 A Kind of Play Workshop Johannesburg, South Africa

Talks

  • 2022 All Friends No Bosses at A MAZE. A series of calls to talk about coops in the session: All friends, no bosses! Blog

  • 2022 Drone Jam presentation twitter join us on discord voice/chat to have a look at some of the games/ experiences that have been made! Blog

  • 2022: Ada X: AI The End Blog

  • 2021 SLSA panel about a Game Arts Curators Kit Blog

  • 2020: NYUGameCenter discussion on Twitch about the games: Palimpsest, The Fascination, and Picklock. Blog

  • 2020 Online Gatherings Future Tense Conference about exploration of making space together online through connection, vulnerability, and trust. (Online) New York, New York. Blog

  • 2020 Together we find it Game Engines beyond Games Online Blog

  • 2019 NYU ITP Talk Blog

  • 2018 Experience Design at A MAZE Berlin, Germany Marie Claire LeBlanc Flanagan will be talking about her experience design efforts at A MAZE. / Berlin 2018.

  • 2018 Follow Me? Entering Experimental Play Manaus, Brazil

  • 2017 Seeds not Swords: A Hero’s Journey Femisphere - Berlin, Germany

  • 2017 Learning OF OpenFrameworks - Berlin, Germany

  • 2017 Making Strange Play Experiences Nordic Game Jam - Copenhagen, Denmark

  • 2017 The Front End of Game Design UP.front - Berlin, Germany

  • 2016 Getting Closer: Games for you Plan B - Kharkiv, Ukraine

  • 2016 Journey Into Games Incubate Festival - Tilburg, Netherland - Coding & journey into games.

  • 2016 How To! Experimental Play Codemotion - Berlin, Germany

  • 2016 The Making of Closer ąrţgąm€$ - Berlin, Germany, 2016

  • 2016 What I Learned From Cheaters, and Other Miscreants Talk & Play - Berlin, Germany

  • 2015 Wyrd Guide to DIY in Canada OBEY Convention- Halifax, Canada

  • 2014 Why Canada Needs Wyrd Lawnya Vawnya Music Festival - St. John’s, Canada

  • 2013 The Open Business: Fear, Vulnerability, and Profit$ in the Open World Pop Explosion - Halifax, Canada

  • 2013 Building Communities Through Access Halifax Pop Explosion - Halifax, Canada

  • 2013 no-internet small towns OBEY Convention Halifax, Canada - discussed no-internet small towns, Halifax, Torso, OBEY's recent not-for-profit status, and the upcoming convention. Blog

Panels

Download artist CV (Long)