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SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-06-06/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260605T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260605T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014610-1780660800-1780678800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-06-05/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260604T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260604T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
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SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-06-04/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260603T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260603T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014608-1780488000-1780506000@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-06-03/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260602T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260602T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014607-1780401600-1780419600@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-06-02/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260601T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260601T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014606-1780315200-1780333200@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-06-01/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260530T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260530T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014605-1780142400-1780160400@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-30/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260529T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260529T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014604-1780056000-1780074000@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-29/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260528T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260528T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014603-1779969600-1779987600@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-28/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260527T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260527T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014602-1779883200-1779901200@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-27/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260526T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260526T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014601-1779796800-1779814800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-26/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260525T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260525T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014600-1779710400-1779728400@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-25/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260523T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260523T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014599-1779537600-1779555600@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-23/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260522T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260522T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014598-1779451200-1779469200@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-22/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260521T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260521T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014597-1779364800-1779382800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-21/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260520T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260520T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014596-1779278400-1779296400@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-20/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260519T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260519T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014595-1779192000-1779210000@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-19/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260518T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260518T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014594-1779105600-1779123600@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-18/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260516T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260516T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014593-1778932800-1778950800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-16/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260515T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260515T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014592-1778846400-1778864400@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-15/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260514T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260514T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014591-1778760000-1778778000@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-14/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260513T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260513T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014590-1778673600-1778691600@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-13/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260512T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260512T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014589-1778587200-1778605200@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-12/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260511T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260511T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014588-1778500800-1778518800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-11/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260509T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260509T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014587-1778328000-1778346000@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-09/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260508T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260508T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014586-1778241600-1778259600@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-08/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260507T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260507T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014585-1778155200-1778173200@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-07/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260506T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260506T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014584-1778068800-1778086800@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-06/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260505T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260505T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20260505T192524Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260505T192524Z
UID:10014583-1777982400-1778000400@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Rules Are Not Neutral: Play As Sense-Making\, Acts Of Resistance\, And Imagining Otherwise
DESCRIPTION:This exhibition brings together a range of analog games – including board\, card\, role-playing\, and other participatory works – that engage social and political realities in different ways. The works span widely circulated commercial games to independently produced projects\, one-of-a-kind artworks by artists\, faculty\, alumni\, and students\, and materials drawn from UC Santa Cruz Special Collections and Archives. \nIn part\, the exhibition challenges the persistent assumption that games and play are detached from social and political life. On the contrary\, game designers and artists across diverse perspectives and positions have long used play to engage questions of social systems\, lived experience\, and how power operates. This exhibition does not attempt to represent that full spectrum. Instead\, it brings together a particular set of works that foreground how games can make systems visible\, intervene in them\, and imagine alternatives. \nAll games embody values\, whether intentional or not.  \n– Mary Flanagan\, game designer and scholar \nAcross all of these works\, games are not only forms of entertainment\, though they may be that as well. They are encountered in multiple ways: as objects\, as systems\, as artworks\, and as experiences that unfold unpredictably through interaction. In each case\, rules and constraints shape what participants can do. In these different forms\, the works stage systems – such as housing and land ownership\, capitalism\, race and identity\, civil rights and protest\, fascism\, and colonialism – in ways that are simplified and easy to see\, opening space to recognize similar structures beyond the game. In this sense\, the works suggest that rules are not neutral – they organize experience\, distribute power\, and produce meaning. \nGames are the art of agency. \n– C. Thi Nguyen\, philosopher \nThe exhibition is intentionally dense. This abundance reflects the breadth of ways games operate across contexts\, from activism and education to art and everyday life. While it celebrates creativity and difference\, it also asks how these works engage critically with the structures that shape our lives.  \nSome works use rules to model systems\, helping players understand how those systems operate. Others use play to rehearse action\, asking players to practice navigating or challenging those systems. Still others turn toward speculation\, inviting players to imagine alternative futures\, worlds\, and the systems that might shape them.  \nThe imagination is an instrument of change. \n– Ursula K. Le Guin\, author \nThe focus on analog games reflects how they foreground materiality and shared physical presence. Played face-to-face\, handled\, read aloud\, and experienced together\, these works show how rules operate not in abstraction\, but through lived\, embodied experience. \nUltimately\, the exhibition asks us to consider not only how games represent the world\, but how they shape our engagement with it – and how through play\, the social and political systems they model might be understood\, challenged\, and reimagined. \nGames are not apolitical. \n– Kishonna L. Gray\, media scholar \n  \nGallery Reception\nMay 15 from 1 to 4pm at the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery \n  \nArt Friday\nHands-on art activities drawing from the current exhibition.\nALL ARE WELCOME regardless of skill level. Art supplies and free snacks are provided!
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/rules-are-not-neutral-play-as-sense-making-acts-of-resistance-and-imagining-otherwise/2026-05-05/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
CATEGORIES:Exhibits
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
BEGIN:VEVENT
DTSTART;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260309T120000
DTEND;TZID=America/Los_Angeles:20260309T170000
DTSTAMP:20260607T171836
CREATED:20251218T194314Z
LAST-MODIFIED:20260106T174638Z
UID:10005919-1773057600-1773075600@events.ucsc.edu
SUMMARY:Ecology of Presence: Pathways to the Natural World
DESCRIPTION:Norris Center Art + Science Graduate Fellowship Exhibition \nEcology of Presence: Pathways to the Natural World brings together the work of ten graduate students supported by the Kenneth S. Norris Center for Natural History Art + Science Fellowship\, a program dedicated to creative research connecting art with the natural world. Across media – including sound\, moving image\, music\, performance\, installation\, comics\, social practice\, photography\, and storytelling – the artists in Ecology of Presence emphasize relationality and careful attention to place as essential to building relationships with environs. As accelerating environmental change and technological dependency threaten ways of belonging\, the works in this exhibition maintain a steadfast commitment to interdisciplinary approaches that propose kinship with the natural world. By coming together\, Art + Science Fellows artworks and social practices suggest ways of imagining human life in relation to the more-than-human world.
URL:https://events.ucsc.edu/event/ecology-of-presence-pathways-to-the-natural-world/2026-03-09/
LOCATION:Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery\, 11 Cowell Service Rd\, Santa Cruz\, CA\, 95064
ORGANIZER;CN="Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery":MAILTO:epsgal@ucsc.edu
GEO:36.996399;-122.0527221
X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery 11 Cowell Service Rd Santa Cruz CA 95064;X-APPLE-RADIUS=500;X-TITLE=11 Cowell Service Rd:geo:-122.0527221,36.996399
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR