The unemployed donkeys have one demand: the humans must surrender their machines and give the asses back their jobs. But revolution is never easy… 

asses.masses is a custom-made video game about work, technology, revolution and donkeys, designed to be played from beginning to end by a live audience – one player at a time. This immersive, cheeky and highly original eight-hour epic turns video-gaming into performance and puts you at the heart of the action. 

Whether you chose to sit and watch the action unfold, call out and back-seat drive or took your turn at the controller, the donkey’s struggle to survive a post-industrial society in which they’ve all been made redundant could not have been told without you. We found our way to the end of the game to discover what lies between the work that defines us and the play that frees us. No gaming experience was necessary. 

Like all the best gaming marathons, food and drink were a key part of the experience – so there were regular breaks to refuel with snacks, a light meal and even dessert, all included in the ticket price. After all, no one ever started a revolution on an empty stomach… 

Ages 14+.

Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim are conceptual artists exploring urgent questions around the social value of art, digital labour and the political potential of games. Mixing their backgrounds in performance, philosophy, psychology and digital media, their collaborations have manifested in video games, participatory installations, digital archives and card games.

In addition to asses.masses, Patrick and Milton are also the co-founders of the Canadian national video archive of performance (videocan) and the co-creators behind a performing arts economy trading card game (culturecapital). Their projects have been presented across Canada, as well as in Germany, Argentina, Mexico, Italy, the UK and the USA, in English, French, Italian, Catalan, German and Spanish.

We invited you to join the creators of asses.masses, Patrick Blenkarn and Milton Lim, to learn the basics of game design and create concepts for provocative games with political potential.